Jane Austen, by Clay Lane

Chawton House in Hampshire belonged the Knight family, who were distant cousins of the Austens and who adopted Jane’s brother Edward. It was Edward who made a house on the estate available to his mother and two sisters after the unexpected death of their father in 1805. There is a picture of it here (the brick house on the left).

Jane Austen

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JANE’S father and brothers had already tried and failed to get her work published. With Mrs Austen now a widow, the family renewed their efforts, and in 1811 success came with ‘Sense and Sensibility’.

It was quickly followed by the enduringly popular ‘Pride and Prejudice’, and Jane won a loyal fan-base that included the Prince Regent.

Jane herself never married. Her life revolved around her music – she was a keen pianist – and managing her house in the Hampshire village of Chawton, which she shared with her mother, her sister Cassandra, and Martha Lloyd, a widow and family friend.

And of course there was her writing.

By 1816, Jane’s brothers in the Navy and her stay in Bath had supplied her with sufficient material to embark on her sixth published novel, ‘Persuasion’.

But it was to be her last. Her health began to deteriorate, and a specialist in Winchester was unable to help her. Jane died there on 18th July, 1817, aged forty-one.

by Clay Lane

Précis

To support herself, her sister and their widowed mother, Jane turned to her writing as a source of income. From 1811, a series of six novels was published including the evergreen ‘Pride and Prejudice’. However, in 1816 Jane’s health began to fail, and the following year she died at the home of a Winchester specialist, aged 41.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

Which of Jane Austen’s six published novels was the first to appear in print?

Suggestion

‘Sense and Sensibility’, first published in 1811.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Jane wrote nine novels. Jane’s family published six of them. Two were published after her death.

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Précis

Sevens

Jigsaws

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