Jane did not lack for marriage proposals. The best-documented one was in 1802. Jane was a spinster of 27, an age at which women were considered unmarriageable. Much to her surprise, an old acquaintance, the young Harris Bigg-Wither (whom we met at the Assembly Ball), proposed. Harris, although the heir to a large estate, was socially awkward and stammered. However, he felt comfortable with Jane, a lady he had known for many years. She accepted.
The benefits to Jane were obvious. She would be lady of a fine house and be able to help her parents and forward her brothers’ careers. Cassandra would always have a home. Jane herself might become a mother. But within hours, she realized she had made a terrible mistake. Perhaps, as some biographers suggest, she remembered the joy and giddiness of her flirtation with Tom Lefroy. In any event, she called off the engagement early the next morning and fled the scene ignominiously. The Bigg-Withers were furious and the Austens dismayed. Harris married another woman and had a large family. Despite the social pressures on Jane to wed, she would never marry.
Jane had four brothers. James, the oldest, was a clergyman and eventually succeeded his father as the reverend at Steventon. After his first short-lived marriage, he eventually married another woman with a difficult temperament for whom Jane did not care at all. Francis and Charles were in the navy and rose to the rank of admiral and rear admiral respectively.
Jane’s brother George lived until his seventies. He was rarely talked about in the family, although he was a particular favorite of Jane’s. The biographical record is unclear about George’s illness; possibly today he would be diagnosed with cerebral palsy. It is believed that he was unable to speak or hear, because Jane knew sign language and wrote of “talking with her fingers.” At this time there was no official sign language, but many individual ways to communicate with the deaf. Small wonder that Jane warms to Tom Lefroy when she discovers he can “speak” with George in Secrets in the Snow. There is some evidence that Tom had a deaf sister.
The only son Reverend Austen didn’t need to support was easygoing Edward, because he had been adopted by the Knights. Wealthy cousins of the Austens, the Knights needed an heir, and their solution suited the penniless Austens well. Jane and Cassandra were frequent guests at his grand estate, Godmersham.
After Mr. Austen’s death, Mrs. Austen as well as Jane and Cassandra were left in a precarious financial position. Edward gave them a cottage in Chawton, where they lived out the rest of their lives. This cottage is now the Jane Austen Museum.
Jane and Cassandra lived a quiet life, but they were well informed about world events, especially the war with France. They had two brothers hoping to make their fortunes in the navy, and for a time, Henry was in the army. Unusually for the time, their father encouraged them to read widely and voraciously, including newspapers. But while Jane and Cassandra weren’t reliant on their father for the news of the world, they were dependent on others for transportation. Jane once complained to Cassandra of having to convince Edward to let her travel alone. She wrote, “Till I have a travelling purse of my own, I must submit to such things.”
Like most people, the Austens read of the revolution in France with fascination. Britain and France had been at war since 1793. There was a widespread fear in England that the popular unrest that had resulted in violence in France might easily spread across the Channel. The English gentry watched in horror as the Reign of Terror took the lives of the French royal family and then other aristocrats.
For the most part, the war would be waged at sea, but England desperately feared invasion. The coastal counties, such as Hampshire and Kent, were particularly vigilant against unrest and what they called “revolutionary societies.” In Secrets in the Snow, the idea that Edward as a local magistrate is concerned with spies and treason is not farfetched. The English War Office controlled a vast network of spies and informants to keep the peace.
Eliza de Feuillide was Jane’s cousin, and even though she was fourteen years older than Jane, they were close friends. As a favorite visitor to the Austen home, Eliza charmed everyone with her quick wit and her lively ways. She spoke French, wore French fashions, and had a fortune of her own, settled on her by a godfather.
Eliza married a French count, Jean François de Capot de Feuillide, who spent most of his time at his estate in the south of France supervising a massive expensive drainage project. For much of their marriage they were separated as she stayed in London with their son, Hastings. She had a frivolous reputation, but by all accounts was a loyal wife and a doting mother.
The Comte was guillotined in 1794, presumably for being an ardent supporter of the deposed king. His and Eliza’s son, Hastings, never developed properly and was prone to convulsions or fits, as Eliza called them. He died at the age of fifteen.
Of course, in reality, the Comte did not miraculously return to life. However, Eliza and Henry were married in 1797. With Eliza’s fortune and connections to bolster his own considerable charm, he did well in the army. Eventually he resigned his commission in the army and became a banker. They had no children.
Henry acted as Jane’s agent, arranging in 1810 for the publication of Sense and Sensibility. Jane had been writing this book during the period of Secrets in the Snow, although its first incarnation was called Elinor and Marianne.
The book was published anonymously by the author. This meant that the author bore the cost of printing and marketing the book. Henry and Eliza paid the expense, since Jane had no income. It was received well, and by the end of 1813, Jane had received her first royalty check for £140 (approximately U.S. $12,800 in today’s currency). It is hard to imagine what the possession of this enormous sum meant to Jane. For the first time she had control over money of her own.
The success of the first book led the publisher to purchase Pride and Prejudice, which was an even bigger commercial success. In Secrets in the Snow, I took the liberty of having Tom Lefroy’s family inspire the story of the five Bennet sisters in search of a husband. Since it would have been unbecoming for a gentlewoman to have her name known to the public, both books were published anonymously—by the mysterious “Lady A”—so Jane was never famous during her lifetime.
Henry also helped Jane publish Mansfield Park and Emma, and after Jane’s death he arranged for the publication of Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. Henry also provided the first biographical sketch of Jane, but not until after her death.
Jane Austen died in 1814 aged forty-one after a year of declining health. The cause of her death is unknown. Biographers have suggested she died of typhus, Addison’s disease, or lymphoma.
Jane Austen’s niece Anna once asked her accomplished aunt to critique a story she was writing. Jane replied, “You are now collecting your People delightfully, getting them exactly into such a spot as is the delight of my life; 3 or 4 Families in a Country Village is the very thing to work on.” Jane was also describing her own preferred subjects.
Her most famous novels—Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Emma—are all stories about a small group of families living in a village. Although Jane visited London and lived in the city of Bath for five years, most of her short life was spent in the country, either in the parsonage in Hampshire or a cottage in Kent. Her life was spent in conversation, doing good works, attending Assembly Balls, and visiting friends.
Unlike most of her friends, Jane never married or had a home of her own. However, in exchange for a restricted and slightly dull life, she wrote some of the most enduring novels in English literature.
More than two hundred years after the publication of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen is one of the world’s most recognized and beloved authors. Her books have inspired dozens of movie and television adaptations. Her themes of love, marriage, and status still resonate with readers today. The British nation recently honored her by placing her image on the new £10 note, which will be available in 2017.
FOR FURTHER READING
There are dozens of books about Jane Austen, includin
g very specialized books dealing with her homes, life, dances, and politics. The books below are more general. Claire Tomalin’s book in particular was a very useful source for Eliza and Jane’s relationship, while Jon Spence’s book is the most provocative about Jane’s relationship with Tom Lefroy.
Claire Tomalin, Jane Austen: A Life (Alfred A. Knopf, 1997).
J. E. Austen-Leigh, A Memoir of Jane Austen and Other Family Recollections, edited by Kathryn Sutherland (Oxford University Press, 2002).
Jan Fergus, Jane Austen: A Literary Life (Macmillan Press, 1991).
Park Honan, Jane Austen: Her Life (St. Martin’s Press, 1987).
Elizabeth Jenkins, Jane Austen: A Biography (1938 and later reprints).
Maggie Lane, Jane Austen’s World: The Life and Times of England’s Most Popular Author (Carlton Books, 2013).
Deirdre Le Faye, Jane Austen: A Family Record (Cambridge University Press, 2003).
Jon Spence, Becoming Jane Austen (Continuum, 2007).
There are numerous websites dedicated to Jane Austen’s life, works, and criticism. Here are two:
www.jasna.org (Jane Austen Society of North America).
www.austenprose.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’m told that writing is a lonely business. I beg to differ! I have the best critique group on the planet: Sari Bodi, Christine Pakkala, and Karen Swanson. My good friends Krista Richards Mann and Susan Ross were invaluable last-minute readers. Sarah Gillow Clark offered me the benefits of her long experience.
The team at Chronicle Books is a dream to work with. I trust my editor Victoria Rock implicitly. After six books, I’ve learned she’s usually right. Taylor Norman has been a wonderful go-to person for questions both dumb and hard. I’m so grateful for the beautiful books Chronicle designs, both inside and out—so special thanks to Kayla Ferriera. Vicky Walker is my copyeditor (on this and several other books), and she is terrific—I especially appreciate her instinct for the difference between archaic language and language that only looks archaic. Diane João proofread the galleys, catching all those details I missed. Thank you!
And as always, I must thank my husband Rob and my daughters Rowan and Margaux. They are patient and supportive, and I couldn’t write without them.
MICHAELA MACCOLL
studied multidisciplinary history at Vassar College and Yale University, which turns out to be the perfect degree for writing historical fiction. This is her eighth novel. To learn more about Michaela and her work, please visit www.michaelamaccoll.com.
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