My attraction to Jane Austen only began about a year ago when this movie came out. Ever since seeing this movie I bought a book, and then a few of the recently released spoofs of Austen, watched the Anne Hathaway movie and even became obsessed with a mini series from the BBC... given it was a hybrid of Jane Austen and Alice in Wonderland. When I saw this book I HAD to read it.
Now, watching the movie about her, I never would have known the role religion held in Austen's life. No movie or simple biography about her has done her justice until now. This book by Peter Leithart was fantastic. You do not have to be an Austen-addict to enjoy it. There are great reference pages in the back which can help those who have never even held an Austen novel to understand who the characters in her novels are.
Jane Austen is not the person many have depicted her as being. Yes she was an author, but she was not a poor servant-type daughter of a man who made no money and needed to sell his daughters into marriage in order to sustain his life. Her books were not based on her. The men that did enter her life were not the drunken, boxing fools as they were depicted. She was an intelligent, independent woman who wrote based on her surroundings and managed to live her life the way she wanted to. She cared for her family but never got to enjoy the fame she would one day obtain because of her writings.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Austen.
** True Austen fans~ I do not recommend the spoofs**
Being a girl I of course have to let you know that this book is the perfect size for a purse so you can bring it anywhere! No big clunky books this time... It fit perfectly in my purse and even in the center console of the car.
