A review by samarakroeger
Jane Austen at Home: A Biography by Lucy Worsley

informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

A very well researched biography of the beloved author, focusing on where and how she lived her daily life.  The book is heavily informed by the surviving letters she wrote throughout her life.  I liked the domestic focus -- it is fitting for her very domestic novels.  I learned a lot, but I also found it a little boring and tedious at times (to be fair, I'm not a big biography reader, I much prefer memoirs or narrative nonfiction).  Lucy Worsley is a good writer, but a much stronger narrative thread would have made this a more engaging and digestible book.  I liked how she connected elements of Jane's life with characters and places featured in her novels, and I appreciated how Worsley conveys a strong sense of place throughout.

I'm really glad I'm not a woman born in Georgian England without any real sense of agency.  I hate relying on men.  Long live the spinster union!