New date now confirmed! If you have a ticket from the previous date it is still valid for this event.
Please note the earlier time than usual. Doors open at 6pm for 6.30pm start.
From the bestselling author Paula Byrne (Perdita, Mad World) comes a completely fresh, exciting new biography of Jane Austen to mark the bicentenial anniversary of Pride and Prejudice. A real antidote to the traditional portrait of Austen as conventional and genteel, Byrne reveals the real woman behind the books. The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things explores the forces that shaped the life of this young novelist; from her father’s religious faith, her mother’s aristocratic pedigree, and the female novelists she admired, to her residence in Bath, her travels around England and her long struggle to become a published author. Byrne’s approach is clever and original: each chapter begins with an object that conjures up a key moment or theme in Austen’s life, giving a real sense of context.
Austen emerges as a far more independent, socially and politically aware person than often depicted. This lively and scholarly biography brings Austen dazzlingly into the twenty-first century, successfully tackling the burning question: who was the real Jane Austen?
In association with the Jane Austen Festival
