Jane Austen: Her Life and Letters: A Family Record (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading) Book

Anything about Jane Austen will snag my attention and of course this one did and I tucked it onto my Kindle for future reading. I was curious to read a book about her that was written by her own relation and not as far removed from her time, but not exactly a contemporary, either.

I'm still a little hazy on William Austen-Leigh's tie to Jane Austen and I think he might be a great-nephew and her oldest brother James' grandson. But again, not for certain there. He makes many references to an earlier Memoir written by another relation that seemed one generation closer.

This is exactly what the title says. Its a family record focused on Jane Austen and her Life leaning heavily on mostly hers, but also other family letters to, from, or about her. The author begins with family history details without going too far back, but a few generations that explain how Jane's parents came to settle in Steventon and raise their family the way they did with a respect for learning, literature, and family connections. The author points out early hints of Jane the writer emerging and also Jane the young lady and woman. There are sections of flowing praise for his relation and family, but the author is generous with facts and his narrative is much of the time simply a provision of where she went, who she saw, and what she did to the best of his knowledge. He doesn't do a lot of speculation on what she thought or felt which was probably a good thing.

The meat of this book was the organization of letters mainly written by Jane with the occasional inserted note of explanation about points in the letters that allows the reader to follow along chronologically letting Jane tell her own story. Her dazzling personality hidden inside her quiet exterior demeanor and homebody is a heady combination. Her letters must have been a much anticipated source of amusement for each recipient. And to think, as another reader pointed out, these existing letters are just the tip of the iceberg so to speak since, after her death, Jane's sister, Cassandra burned several of the letters that she felt exposed her sister's privacy too much.

I am not too proud to admit that I shed tears over a letter between Cassandra Austen and her niece, Fanny Knight regarding Jane's last hours. I did love to see the mention of how the family was at this time and also how Henry and Edward worked to get the last two novels published for her.

Two things that really struck me and I shared with our reading group was that the author pointed out that Jane Austen's first published book, Sense & Sensibility, had a lot riding on it's success for Jane, but also her legacy. Because of the cost to writers trying to be published, if a book didn't succeed then likely there would not be more books forthcoming and Jane couldn't afford to keep trying to publish.
The other thing was that I hadn't realized that Persuasion had an entirely different ending the first time she wrote it. She ended up coming back at it, swapping out her ending chapter for two new chapters that gave us that scene in the Musgrove's parlor at the inn in Bath between Captain Harville and Anne as well as THE Letter.
No Pride and Prejudice or Captain Wentworth's Letter? Thank goodness S&S succeeded and that Jane revised Persuasion.

So, this was a delightful read and now I'm keen to read that Memoir William Austen-Leigh referenced. This is definitely worth it for the Austen lover.