MYER, VALERIE GROSVENOR — Obstinate Heart: Jane Austen - a Biography

UK, Michael O"Mara Books Limited. 1997. Hardcover with dust jacket, 24 Cm. Book, 700g packed to post, 248pp with photos mid section. This biography may best be read in conjunction with its subject's novels, for so much of Jane's life went into her six books, although her heroines generally fared better than their creator. Born the seventh of eight children into the genteel but impoverished home of a clergyman, Jane Austen quickly learned what it meant to be a woman without money--a situation most of her female protagonists shared, yet often overcame through marriage. Austen, however, refused to marry without love,and thus never married. Myer delves into the mores and manners of Austen's times--the importance placed on marriage, respectability, and financial security, all central to theauthor's novels. Most engaging is Myer's exploration of Jane Austen's prickly, imperfect personality, revealed through letters, diaries, and the recollections of her family. In Jane Austen the reader discovers a fully-drawn woman, complete with flaws,strengths, and a burning talent that lives on today, 200 years after her death. Excellent/Very Good/Good.