Genre: Non-fiction, memoir.

What do you think motivated the author to share his or her life story? James Edward Austen-Leigh is a distant relative of Jane Austen and I believe, much like he has said throughout the book, that his purpose was so people could know the real Jane Austen and share her more personal life and her journey in writing six very amazing books.

Share a favorite part of the book: My most favorite part of the book would probably be the never before published chapters from Persuasion and then a number of chapters from the last book Austen was writing before she died. It had no title and they weren’t even able to tell who the main focus was to be on, even though she had at least a dozen chapters completed.

How would you rate this book? Three and a half stars. 3.5/5 (

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blondierocket | Jun 28, 2009 |

I read Austen-Leigh's "Memoir of Jane Austen" in preparation for my yearly Jane Austen Binge. I was a bit worried at first because I thought it was just going to be a family member of Jane Austen waxing poetic about their dear old aunt but I definitely found something far more valuable. The personal accounts were entertaining but I found myself far more interested in Austen's letters. I do think Elizabeth Jenkin's biography is a far better resource for anyone who is looking for a detailed biography of Jane Austen. (

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Grace2133 | Oct 1, 2008 |

http://www.lonelymountain.net/books/s... (

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gwyneira | Aug 9, 2006 |

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Series (with order)

Canonical Title

Original publication date

1989 (Folio Society ed.)

People/Characters

Jane Austen

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Quotations

Last words

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

A Memoir of Jane Austen

Timeline of Jane Austen

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

▾Book descriptions

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0192840746, Paperback)

James Edward Austen-Leigh's Memoir of his aunt Jane Austen was published in 1870, over fifty years after her death. Together with the shorter recollections of James Edward's two sisters, Anna Lefroy and Caroline Austen, the Memoir remains the prime authority for her life and continues to inform all subsequent accounts. These are family memories, the record of Jane Austen's life shaped and limited by the loyalties, reserve, and affection of nieces and nephews recovering in old age the outlines of the young aunt they had each known. They still remembered the shape of her bonnet and the tone of her voice, and their first-hand accounts bring her vividly before us. Their declared partiality also raises fascinating issues concerning biographical truth, and the terms in which all biography functions.

This edition brings together for the first time these three memoirs, and also includes Jane's brother Henry Austen's "Biographical Notice" of 1818 and his less known "Memoir" of 1833.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:19 -0400)

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