The Real Jane Austen, by Paula Byrne

In this revisionist biography, Austen -"the unshockable young Jane" – more strongly resembles Emma Woodhouse than Fanny Price. She was opinionated and partial to crude humor. No material, from miscarriage to King James I's rumored homosexuality, was taboo. She was flippant about romance, and Byrne makes a strong case that earlier biographers misinterpreted as sincere letters lampooning heartbroken sentimentalism. Byrne emphasizes Austen's worldliness, particularly her awareness of the horrors of revolutionary France and of the West Indian slave trade. Byrne shirks chronological constraints, beginning each chapter with an object of special significance in the author's life - a shawl, a wooden lap desk-on the premise that much of Austen's fiction was "made real by a few carefully chosen things."

 The Real Jane Austen, by Paula Byrne