Jane Austen’s Bookshelf

From rare book dealer and guest star of the hit show Pawn Stars,a page-turning literary adventure featuring ΓÇ£your favorite authorΓÇÖs favorite authorsΓÇ¥ (Today)ΓÇöthe women who inspired Jane AustenΓÇöthatΓÇÖs ΓÇ£a meditation on reading and writingon honesty and self-discoveryΓÇöand on what books can teach usif we let themΓÇ¥ (The Washington Post). Long before she was a rare book dealerRebecca Romney was a devoted reader of Jane Austen. She loved that AustenΓÇÖs books took the lives of women seriouslyexplored relationships with wit and confidenceand alwaysallowed for the possibility of a happy ending. She read and reread themoften wishing Austen wrote just one more. But Austen wasnΓÇÖt a lone genius. She wrote at a time of great experimentation for women writersΓÇöand clues about those womenand the exceptional books they wroteare sprinkled like breadcrumbs throughout AustenΓÇÖs work. Every character in Northanger Abbey who isnΓÇÖt a boor sings the praises of Ann Radcliffe. The play that causes such a stir in Mansfield Park is a real one by the playwright Elizabeth Inchbald. In factthe phrase ΓÇ£pride and prejudiceΓÇ¥ came from Frances BurneyΓÇÖs second novel Cecilia. The women that populated Jane AustenΓÇÖs bookshelf profoundly influenced her work; Austen looked up to thempassionately discussed their books with her friendsand used an appreciation of their books as a litmus test for whether someone had good taste. So where had these women gone? Why hadnΓÇÖt RomneyΓÇödespite her trainingΓÇöever read them? Orin some caseseven heard of them? And why were they no longer embraced as part of the wider literary canon? Jane AustenΓÇÖs Bookshelf investigates the disappearance of AustenΓÇÖs heroesΓÇöwomen writers who were erased from the Western canonΓÇöto reveal who they werewhat they meant to Austenand how they were forgotten. Each chapter profiles a different writer including Frances BurneyAnn RadcliffeCharlotte LennoxCharlotte SmithHannah MoreElizabeth InchbaldHester Lynch Thrale Piozziand Maria EdgeworthΓÇöand recounts RomneyΓÇÖs experience reading themfinding rare copies of their worksand drawing on connections between their words and AustenΓÇÖs. Romney collects the once-famed works of these forgotten writersphysically recreating AustenΓÇÖs bookshelf and making a convincing case for why these books should be placed back on the to-be-read pile of all book lovers today. Jane AustenΓÇÖs Bookshelf will encourage you to look beyond assigned reading listsquestion who decides what belongs thereand build your very own collection of favorite novels.