Consumer Critique: The Real Jane Austen

Disclosure: I received complimentary products to facilitate this post. All opinions are my own.

Are you a literature buff, especially a fan of Jane Austen's work? There's a new book out, The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things that takes a unique look at Jane Austen's life. It is a great biography, and the approach is unique. Jane Austen has a habit of using small tokens and letters to signify turning points and significant events in the plot. Paula Byrne looks at tokens from Austen's own life - a gold chain, for example - and explores their significance in her life.

It reveals a great author who is well-traveled, from the East Indies to Paris, yet not above being involved in scandal. I loved reading it. I've read some of Austen's work, so it was very interesting to have a look at the author behind the novels. It always lends a much greater insight into the books themselves, and for me, helps them become more real, when the author seems more real.