Readers will appreciate its exciting sweep.' 'This encyclopedic and entertaining volume will suite readers who daydream about going back in time to walk alongside literary figures such as Austen. an excellent read, with each chapter offering a treasury of insights into the lives of Austens contemporaries, both rich and poor.' 'As this immensely useful and informative book makes clear, Regency England was no laughing matter.' And for Janeites? Its an essential guide to getting your Austenian life accurate to the last detail.' 'This is fascinating reading for any classical fiction or history enthusiast. Drawing upon a rich array of contemporary sources, including many previously unpublished manuscripts, diaries, and personal letters, Roy and Lesley Adkins vividly portray the daily lives of ordinary people, discussing topics as diverse as birth, marriage, religion, sexual practices, hygiene, highwaymen, and superstitions.įrom chores like fetching water to healing with medicinal leeches, from selling wives in the marketplace to buying smuggled gin, from the hardships faced by young boys and girls in the mines to the familiar sight of corpses swinging on gibbets, Jane Austens England offers an authoritative and gripping account that is sometimes humorous, often shocking, but always entertaining. Jane Austens England explores the customs and culture of the real England of her everyday existence depicted in her classic novels as well as those by Byron, Keats, and Shelley. Jane Austen, arguably the greatest novelist of the English language, wrote brilliantly about the gentry and aristocracy of two centuries ago in her accounts of young women looking for love. An authoritative account of everyday life in Regency England, the backdrop of Austens beloved novels, from the authors of the forthcoming Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History (March 2018)

Jane Austen's England by Roy A. Adkins