No one outside the family knew that she was writing at all, but inside the family it was one of those secrets everybody knows. Even the littlest niece, keeping close to Aunt Jane for the love she always found there, knew that something unusually exciting was going on. Sometimes in the midst of their play Aunt Jane would begin to laugh softly, run to the little desk, write something quickly down and come back laughing. Sometimes she would call Aunt Cassy and read her something she had just put on paper; every now and then she would have to stop to let Aunt Cassy laugh and the two would laugh together. The sisters explained that Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy were a secret no one but the family so much as guessed.
Years later, just about everyone who read English had heard about the book:
Pride and Prejudice.
This outstanding biography of a well-beloved novelist catches the spirit of Jane Austen herself. May Lamberton Becker enjoyably introduces us to the 18th and early 19th century world Miss Austen lived in—her family, her friends, her varied settings and her many keen interests—as we are given insight to the personal background of all the Austen novels. Enlivening her narrative with many quotations from Jane Austen's own correspondence, Miss Becker puts her own enthusiastic appreciation of one of the world's most delightful writers at our disposal.
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