Emma

Jane Austen was born in Steventon rectory on 16 December 1775. Her family later moved to Bath, then to Southampton and finally to Chawton in Hampshire. She began writing Pride and Prejudice when she was twenty-two years old. It was originally called First Impressions and was initially rejected by the publishers and only published in 1813 after much revision. She published four of her novels in her lifetime, Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Jane Austen died on 18th July 1817. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were both published posthumously in 1818.

Whatever age you are, Austen has something for you. I would go further, in fact, to assert that a reader never comes away from an Austen novel empty-handed—Joanna TrollopeThat young lady has a talent for describing the involvements of feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with—I'd like to write a play as perfect as Emma—Austen's characters are unquestionably one key to her greatness. Her understanding of the human heart is forensic and also frosted with the necessary detachment that gives deeper meaning to her rendering of human frailty—GuardianIt is the cleverest of books. I especially love the dialogue - every speech reveals the characters' obsessions and preoccupations, yet it remains perfectly natural...absolutely gripping—Jane Austen is my favourite author! Shut up in measureless content, I greet her by the name of most kind hostess, while criticism slumbers—Who needs eReaders when book publishers are repackaging classic tales in beautiful covers like these? … Perfect for fans of the author—BellaBeautifully designed… Perfect collectable gift for Austen fans and design devotees—So DarlingThese might be the loveliest editions of Jane Austen’s novels we’ve seen in a long time—A Little Bird (blog)