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Jane Austen Society of Australia

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Special book reviews ~ 
10 lives of Jane Austen compared

At the 1999 JASA Country Weekend at Morpeth, NSW, members reviewed some of the large range of Jane Austen biographies available – new and not so new. Reviewers were invited to comment on the treatment of all, none or some of such elements as Jane’s brother George, her relationship with her mother, the practice of ‘farming out’ babies, Jane’s ‘loves’ (Tom Lefroy, the shadowy gentleman in Devon, Harris Bigg-Wither) etc.

1. Dear Jane, by Constance Pilgrim, published by The Pentland Press Ltd, UK, 1971.
   Reviewed by Susannah Fullerton

2. Jane Austen: A Family Record, by W Austen-Leigh, R A Austen-Leigh and Deirdre le Faye, 1989.
   Reviewed by Susannah Fullerton

3. A Portrait of Jane Austen, by Lord David Cecil, 1978. Reviewed by Marjorie Jones

4. The Parson’s Daughter, by Irene Collins, 1998.
   Reviewed by Anne Harbers

5. Obstinate Heart, by Valerie Grosvenor Myer, 1997. Reviewed by Meghan Hayward

6. Jane Austen: Her Life, by Park Honan, 2nd edition 1987
   Reviewed by Andrea Richards

7. Jane Austen: A Life, by David Nokes, 1997
   Reviewed by Lyn Drabsch

8. Jane Austen: A Biography, by Elizabeth Jenkins, 1938/1972/1986
   Reviewed by Yvette Field

9. Biographical Notice of the Author, by Henry Austen, 1818
   A Memoir of Jane Austen, by James Edward Austen Leigh, 1870/1989
   Reviewed by Amanda Jones

10. Jane Austen: A Life, by Claire Tomalin, 1997
    Reviewed by Helen Malcher