Non-Fiction: Carol Shields

Jane Austen: A Biography

While many are familiar with Jane Austen's novels, the details of her life are less well known. In this addition to the Penguin Lives series, biographer Shields draws from Austen's witty letters and classic novels to combat the notion that Austen lived a placid, uneventful life. Raised in a large family by intelligent parents, Austen's creativity flourished. She and her siblings were known to put on plays, and she found a ready audience for her fiction in her family. Her writing developed from outrageously witty and satirical juvenilia to a subtle and graceful maturity in her novels. Meanwhile, Austen's life was anything but dull; balls, parties, broken or tragically ended engagements, and family scandals occupied Jane and sister Cassandra's time. Shields explores popular Austen stories, such as her attraction to and subsequent separation from an eligible bachelor and her 24-hour engagement to a different man. Although Shields suggests that Austen's unmarried state might have been a source of disappointment for her, Shields also shows how important Austen's literary successes were to her. A thoughtful introduction to an important and influential writer. Kristine Huntley Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved