JANE AUSTEN’S REGENCY ENGLAND by Marilyn Clay is an in-depth look at the life of the beloved author of Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, and others, lived alongside the world-changing events that occurred, year-by-year, during the years of the English Regency.
When Jane Austen was born, George, Prince of Wales, firstborn son of King George III, was a boy of thirteen, growing up in London with his parents and a houseful of royal brothers and sisters. JANE AUSTEN’S REGENCY ENGLAND follows both of their lives concurrently. Readers get a look at the prince’s upbringing and Jane’s early education, names of books she read, her family pleasures and pastimes whilst also exploring the types of schools available for children at the time, Circulating Libraries, toys, names of books written for children and popular novels of the time.
While Jane writes her first novels at home in Steventon, we explore other women writers of the period, Hannah More, Mary Shelley, Fanny Burney, Madame de Staël and many more. When Jane’s brother Frank joins the Navy and goes to sea, we learn of Frank’s orders from Nelson and follow the year-by-year events of England’s struggles to subdue the French. We see Napoleon at home through the eyes of his valet and learn the names of both Napoleon and the Prince of Wales’ many lovers, and illicit encounters.
With Jane and her mother searching for lodging, the Prince is consorting with Mrs. Fitzherbert in Brighton, and against royal wishes, weds her. While Jane and her parents are living in Bath, we explore seaside spa-towns where they summer, Sadler’s Wells, Weymouth, Lyme. We follow Jane to Southampton and through letters to her sister, learn about the deaths of Cassandra’s fiancé and her brother Edward’s wife. We are taken year-by-year through the war on the continent, the Congress in Vienna, the Duchess of Richmond’s ball in Brussels, Waterloo and Napoleon’s downfall.
Other personalities appearing in the book include Beau Brummell, Lord Byron, the artists Reynolds, Gainsborough, Turner, popular caricaturists of the day, the seven Almack patronesses, and the stir caused by the arrival of the waltz. When Jane goes to visit her brother Henry in London, we tour its pleasure gardens with her, the Tower of London and theatres. We read about Edmund Keans’ downfall. Later, we rejoice with Jane when her novels are published and the Prince praises them and contacts her.
When Jane dies in 1817 and the Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Prince also dies, we learn of the royal scramble for an heir to the throne, and the birth that follows. Included in the book are snippets from letters and the writings of Wellington, Robert Southey, Ellen Weeton, Horace Walpole, Thomas Creevey, Napoleon, Byron, Charles & Mary Lamb, Sir Walter Scott, and many more.
The 400+ pages of JANE AUSTEN’S REGENCY ENGLAND, is an in-depth compendium of Jane Austen's life lived during England’s ever-changing and colorful Regency Period. Available in ebook and print from all major online booksellers, and in audio from Google. Author Marilyn Clay has written over thirty books, including seventeen novels, and six non-fiction titles all set during the English Regency. For 16 years, she published The Regency Plume, an international newsletter focused on the English Regency. In JANE AUSTEN’S REGENCY ENGLAND, Marilyn Clay draws on her extensive research into this colorful, nine-year period in English history.
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