Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Preface to Fourth Edition
List of Letters
Jane Austen's Letters
Abbreviations and Citations
Notes
General Notes on the Letters
Bibliography
Biographical Index
Topographical Index
Subject Index
General Index

About the Author

Deirdre Le Faye is now retired and lives in North Somerset; prior to retirement she worked for many years in the Department of Medieval & Later Antiquities at the British Museum. She started researching the life and times of Jane Austen and her family in the 1970s, and since then has written several books about them, the latest being A Chronology of Jane Austen and her Family 1600-2000, as well as numerous articles in literary journals.

Reviews

`Review from previous edition Deidre Le Faye's new edition is necessary and very welcome; no one was better qualified, no one could have done it so well.'
Independent on Sunday
`We waited a long time for the new edition. It was well worth the wait.'
Jane Austen Society of North America
`for those who are starting to get the novels confused with the films, here is a chance to enjoy their beloved Jane at her most direct ... a generous and comprehensive book'
Max Davidson, The Daily Telegraph
`Most will enjoy reading Austen unbuttoned, in an unfussy and intelligently edited volume.'
Sam Leith, The Observer
`Le Faye re-orders the letters chronologically and provides useful background information. She also includes previously unpublished material.'
The Express
`Wiht little else to fill that ordinary life, Jane had plenty of time to write letters. They were witty, intimate and gossipy and brought alive her contemporaries and their surroundings. More than 160 are collected here, annotated and placed in chronological order.'
Oxford Times
`it is possible to appreciate Le Faye's edition for what it offers to readers both casual and academic. Most importantly, this is a highly readable text. ... Carefully detailed notes, biographical and topographical indexes, and bibliographical information about primary and secondary sources all contribute to the reader's sense that Le Faye's professional thoroughness has indeed made accessible 'the daily business' of Austen's world.'
RES New Series, vol.XLVIII, No.190, 1997
`These are the letters of our greatest novelist ... they give glances and hints at her life from the age of 20 to her death at 41, the years in which she wrote her six imperishable books'
Claire Tomalin, Independent on Sunday