An overview of the life of the author with some interesting context and insights about her relationships with family and others. The process and commitment made by Austen, who was determined to be a published author, offered an additional layer of understanding of her character and ambition.

DNF. This begins with the following premise:

“Austen has become what she never was in life, what she would have been horrified to be: a literary celebrity.”

Why the assumption Jane be horrified to be a literary celebrity? She wanted to earn money for her work and even laughingly resented Walter Scott’s shift from poetry to novels because he was more competition for her. There were literary celebrities who were her contemporaries, so what in her letters and novels indicate she wouldn’t have wanted that success?

“The current obsession with everything Austen might be taken as a form of dementia.”

What? Dementia? A love of Austen means you have a progressive loss of intellectual functioning? Geez, just let people enjoy things.

The attempt to shoehorn her Christian faith into the forefront of her life and work felt disingenuous. And the author kept calling her Jenny because of ONE letter her father wrote calling her that when she was born.

Cannot recommend as an intro to Austen or to diehard Austen fans…who apparently are suffering from dementia.