Jane Austen

Jane Austen (1775–1817) was an English novelist whose sharply observed fiction explores family life, money, marriage and social standing. Her characters negotiate private wishes and public expectations while learning to question their own judgements. Her novels include Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Persuasion. Chawton was an important setting for her mature writing. The youthful Love and Freindship reveals an early taste for narrative experimentation and comic criticism.