Modern Jane Austen

Jane Austen was well able to tell a good Romance story, with wit thrown in. What you might not know is that some of your favorite books and movies are actually modern-day adaptations of her classic novels.

Jane Austen was born 16th December 1775 and died 18th July 1817 at the age of 41. The seventh child and second daughter of Cassandra and George Austen, Jane Austen was born in

Steventon, Hampshire, England. Jane’s parents were well-respected community members. Her father served as the Oxford-educated rector for a nearby Anglican parish. The family was close and the children grew up in an environment that stressed learning and creative thinking. When Jane was young, she and her siblings were encouraged to read from their father’s extensive library. The children also authored and put on plays and charades.

Then in her 30s, Jane started to anonymously publish her works. In the period spanning 1811-16, she pseudonymously published Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice (a work she referred to as her “darling child,” which also received critical acclaim), Mansfield Park and Emma.

In 1816, at the age of 41, Jane started to become ill with what some say might have been Addison’s disease. She made impressive efforts to continue working at a normal pace, editing older works as well as starting a new novel called The Brothers, which would be published after her death as Sanditon. At some point, Jane’s condition deteriorated to such a degree that she ceased writing. She died on July 18, 1817, in Winchester, Hampshire, England.

Austen was in the worldwide news in 2007, when author David Lassman submitted to several publishing houses a few of her manuscripts with slight revisions under a different name, and they were routinely rejected. He chronicled the experience in an article titled “Rejecting Jane,” a fitting tribute to an author who could appreciate humor and wit.

Trouble with Flirting by Claire LaZebnik




Austenland (Austenland #1) by Shannon Hale



Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik




Clueless is a 1995 American comedy film loosely based on Jane Austen’s 1815 novel Emma.


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