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This book features lively, and often humorous, entries that illuminate Jane Austen's world.
Willoughby (Sense and Sensibility) drives a curricle not a gig — what does this say about him? Captain Wentworth (Persuasion) and Fanny's brother William (Mansfield Park) follow the 'King's Service' at sea — what sort of life did they find there? Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Pride and Prejudice) is called Lady Catherine, not Lady de Bourgh — what does this very important distinction signify? More than 70 alphabetically arranged entries provide fascinating historical details on the form and function of everyday and obscure objects that are mentioned in her novels. Jane Austen's first readers would have needed no help in understanding references to their everyday lives. But early nineteenth-century card games, dining habits, social etiquette, occupations and dozens of other topics are not immediately clear to her readers nearly two hundred years later. In this encyclopedia, students of Jane Austen will become familiar with what her characters ate, wore and did for recreation. You can learn here about the domestic items, the social scene, the workplace, the church, special events and rituals, and everyday customs that constituted life in Jane Austen's England. Author: Kirstin Olsen. (400 pages)
Level: Libary/Depot/For any teacher with a love of Jane Austen

This Guide by Pat Levy attempts to dispel some of the myths that have accumulated through television and cinema adaptations and to deal with the criticisms that, although living through some of the most turbulent times in European history, she could do little more than write mannered comedies about young women finding suitable husbands. The book gives an account of her life and discusses each of her works, looking at themes of parenthood, civility and propriety, women, the ideology of the class that she cuts to the quick with her seemingly gentle irony and, of course, marriage. (100 pages) Level: Gymnasiet etc.

Revised edition 2004.