What was Jane Austen like in real life?

She must have been a lot of fun to hang out with. Within the limits of her time and cultural context, of course. She would have been everyone's favorite aunt. She was very funny. read more

If you read her juvenilia and then pay attention to the sharp eye for character that is evident in her novels you get the sense that she was a bit like Lizzie Bennet and her father, she found the silly and the absurd in people and life. read more

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire, England. While not widely known in her own time, Austen's comic novels of love among the landed gentry gained popularity after 1869, and her reputation skyrocketed in the 20th century. read more