What Jane Austen’s Characters Read (and Why)

＂Jane Austen was a voracious and extensive reader, so it’s perhaps no surprise that many of her characters display a similar appetite for the written word. But what did her characters read and what would their literary choices have meant to Austen’s own readership, both at the time and today? This book answers that question and more, focusing on each of her novels and unpacking the multiple (and often surprising) ways in which these inform the reading of Austen’s works＂--

Susan Allen Ford is Professor of English Emerita at Delta State University, USA, and has been editor of Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal and Persuasions On-Line since 2006.