Rebecca Smith has written three previous titles on Jane Austen, The Jane Austen Writers’ Club, Jane Austen’s Guide to Modern Life’s Dilemmas and Where’s Jane?. She has worked as Writer in Residence at Jane Austen’s House in Hampshire, and as a principal teaching fellow in English and Creative Writing at Southampton University. She is the author of six novels, most recently Conversations With An Octopus, which was inspired by Sanditon. Rebecca is one of Jane Austen’s five-times great nieces, descended from Sir Francis Austen. She lives in Hampshire, England, and enjoys walking in the places that Jane Austen knew and loved.