On June 4th, THE LIST LOVER’S GUIDE TO JANE AUSTEN is being released. This book features fun facts and little known items about Jane Austen through lists and quotes. It’s a MUST HAVE for any Jane Austen fan!
Here are two excerpts from the book:
The Hearts She Broke
Harris Bigg–Wither
“Mr. Wither was very plain in person—-awkward, & even uncouth in manner—-nothing but his size to recommend him—-he was a fine big man—-but one need not look about for a secret reason to account for a young lady’s not loving him—-a great many would have taken him without love—-& I beleive the wife he did get was very fond of him, & that they were a happy couple—-He had sense in plenty & went through life very respectably, as a country gentleman—-I conjecture that the advantages he could offer, & her gratitude for his love, & her long friendship with his family, induced my Aunt to decide that she would marry him when he should ask her—-but that having accepted him she found she was miserable & that the place & fortune which would certainly be his, could not alter the man—-She was staying in his Father’s house—-old Mr. Wither was then alive—-To be sure she should not have said yes—-over night—-but I have always respected her for the courage in cancelling that yes—-the next morning—-All worldly advantages would have been to her—-& she was of an age to know this quite well—-My Aunts had very small fortunes & on their Father’s death they & their Mother would be, they were aware, but poorly off—-I beleive most young women so circumstanced would have taken Mr. W. & trusted to love after marriage.”
—-Mary Lloyd Austen as told to her daughter Caroline Austen
Edward Bridges
“I wish you may be able to accept Lady Bridges’s invitation, tho’ I could not her son Edward’s.”
—Jane to Cassandra, October 7, 1808
Pet Peeve: Untidiness
“Mary does not manage matters in such a way as to make me want to lay in myself. She is not tidy enough in her appearance; she has no dressing–gown to sit up in; her curtains are all too thin, and things are not in that comfort and style about her which are necessary to make such a situation an enviable one. Elizabeth was really a pretty object with her nice clean cap put on so tidily and her dress so uniformly white and orderly.”
—-Jane Austen to Cassandra, November 1798
To find the book: