Jane Austen’s House

Jane Austen revised the book that was to become Pride and Prejudice from Jane Austen’s House at Chawton. After Jane’s father died in Bath in 1805, the Austen women found themselves in very reduced financial circumstances. They moved to Southampton for a while to live with Jane’s brother Francis and his wife Mary and in [...]

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Jane Austen in Queen Square, Bath, 1799

Jane Austen wrote the following extracts to her sister from number 13, Queen’s Square, on Friday May 17, 1799. She was 23 years of age and had come to Bath with her mother and her brother Edward and his wife. The first photo shows me standing outside the house on Queen Square where they stayed. [...]

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Stamford, Pride and Prejudice, Music and Dance

I was in Stamford, Lincolnshire, last night, the beautiful, historic town where the recent Pride and Prejudice adaptation starring Keira Knightley was filmed. I must go back and see the town in daylight, it looked absolutely beautiful! I was there to see my son, Sam, play bass with a fabulous band called Fre3peace at a [...]

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Elizabeth Bennet encounters Mr Darcy

I love the following extract from chapter three of Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen cleverly shows the characters of Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy by illustrating their behaviour and attitude to dancing in a few sentences. It’s the beginning of a long ‘dance’ between our beloved heroine and hero, Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Fitzwilliam [...]

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Lydia’s Elopement – Another Exchange of Letters between Lydia and Lucy

Lydia, my dear,
I have had the most awful time keeping your secret. If I do not reveal your whereabouts with Mr Wickham, my papa threatens to cut off my pin money and send me packing to live with my Aunt Beatrice – who, I am sure, you will hardly recall, for she is [...]

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