Jane in Winter
Follow Jane Austen through successive winters and Christmases from the age of seven until her final Christmas at forty-one. This book imagines Jane's innermost feelings as she experiences childhood festivities and family theatricals; the trauma of leaving her old home for Bath and the loss of her beloved father; her first romance and a mortifying proposal; the frustrations of writer's block during exile in Bath and Southampton and her eventual fulfilment as a writer once she returns to rural Hampshire; the joys and irritations of family life and the enduring love and encouragement of her sister Cassandra.
Jane in Winter starts with Jane as a precociously clever seven-year-old, growing up with her lively band of brothers and adored older sister, Cassandra, at Steventon Rectory. We meet fascinating Cousin Eliza from London and observe the rivalry she causes between two of the Austen brothers at family theatricals. We accompany Jane at sixteen to the wedding of her cousin, Jane Cooper, to a handsome naval captain and we later witness Jane's shocking behaviour at a ball with her Irish friend, Tom Lefroy.
We share Jane's bitterness at leaving her childhood home for an unsettled future in Bath, and her grief at the loss of her father. We sympathise with her mortification over an unwanted proposal of marriage from a family friend who can offer wealth and security but nothing more. The book explores the frustrations, as well as the joys, of family life for Jane; her relationships with her parents and her brothers and sisters-in-law, her nieces and nephews. We understand the despair she feels when her writing stalls and inspiration fails her, leaving her financially reliant upon the generosity of her brothers.
We rejoice in her happiness when she finally returns to the Hampshire countryside and settles in the safe haven of Chawton Cottage. We watch as this new security allows her to blossom - preparing her long-dormant Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice for publication at last, and embarking on a miraculous period of inspiration which results in Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion. We accompany Jane to Godmersham Park in Kent and to London where she visits the Prince Regent's library at Carlton House and receives an unwelcome royal request. We follow Jane as the symptoms of her final illness take hold and she struggles to preserve her stoicism in the face of fear,
writing to the last.
Jane in Winter focuses on the family life of Jane Austen, especially the loving support and encouragement she received from her beloved sister. It explores the possible genesis of many of her characters, with parallels to be found amongst those closest to her. Key moments in Jane's life, as described in her letters to Cassandra, such as her romance with Tom Lefroy and the first-ever reading aloud of Pride and Prejudice, are recreated in an attempt to get to the heart of this most elusive and remarkable of women.
An extract and illustration taken from Jane in Winter.
On her way back down to the village she occupied herself in experimenting with some lines of dialogue in her head. She was wrestling with Mr Darcy's unfortunate first proposal to Lizzy; - and their verbal duelling was now very nearly as she wanted it. But there were still a couple of ripostes to be honed a little more sharply for her complete satisfaction. As she walked she enacted the conversation aloud, becoming quite absorbed in all the angry spirit of Lizzy's resentment at the perceived ill treatment of her sister and Mr Wickham. Lizzy's words became her own and once more she and the woman of her invention seemed to merge into one:- 'From the very beginning, from the first moment I may almost say, of my acquaintance with you, your manners impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain for the feelings of others....'
Just as she reached the peak of her tirade, she rounded a hedge and found herself in the presence of a young farm labourer, who seemed startled at the sudden spectacle of a lady muttering so furiously to herself. She bid him a hasty good-day, conscious that her cheeks were burning scarlet, and he touched his hat in return, an uncertain expression on his honest face. She hurried away; quite sure that he was still observing her progress. Gradually, as she gained some distance, her mortification turned to an appreciation of the humour of the encounter. She chuckled to herself, imagining how she would make Cass and Martha laugh when she relived it for them.