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Jane Austen |
The seventh child of James Austen the rector
of Steventon, Hampshire England. Jane Austen lived at the rectory for the
first 25 years of her life. Before she was 23 she had already written
Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice and Northanger Abbey, but not yet
published. Jane with her sister Cassandra went to the Abbey School in
Reading and later on to Oxford.
She restricted her novels to her observations of the prosperous provincial middles class society of her day. However, she treated her material with such insight, she is considered to be one of the great English novelists. Her books are centred around the bonds between families, their ambitions and feelings. Austen loved the theatre, so she likes to set the scene, commenting on and shaping events. Her dialogue is precise and witty and is a match for any comedy play of her time.
