2002's "Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels" is author Diedre Le Faye's highly enjoyable survey of the world of romance writer Jane Austen's beloved stories. Austen's novels continue to be popular because her characters are so true to life. However, as Le Faye tellingly notes, the modern reader misses at least aspects of the novels because we lack understanding of the Georgian and Regency England context in which they occur.

Jane Austen left behind only a limited footprint for future biographers: her six completed novels, a few incomplete or juvenile manuscripts, and some surviving letters to family and friends. A few relatives captured further details in memoirs or comments. To expand this limited quantity of information, Le Faye investigates Austen's immediate and extended family, the places she lived or may reasonably have traveled to, the customs and fashions of the day, the class system, and such mundane details as food, clothing, and sanitation.

The effect of this, the first half of the book, is to help us better appreciate the novels. In "Pride and Prejudice", the reader can understand why Mr. Darcy's refusal to dance with Elizabeth Bennet at their first meeting was so exceptionally rude, and why Elizabeth could not respond directly to Darcy's letter. In "Emma", the reader learns why her attempts to interest Mr. Elton in Harriet Smith were likely to be understood as Emma's interest in him, thus adding a comical sense of impending disaster to Mr. Elton's eventual marriage proposal to a shocked Emma. In "Sense and Sensibility", we learn why a man could not break an engagement to a woman (although the woman could). Thus, when Edward Feres stood by his prior engagement to Lucy Steele in the face of the opposition of his family, Jane Austen's contemporaries understood this as a noble action, an interpretation not obvious to the modern reader.

The second half of the book is an extended review of Jane Austen's novels in the order in which they are believed to have been written. Readers already familiar with Jane Austen's work can skim her gentle literary criticism for some interesting details about the writing of each novel. An example is the startling recollection by one of Jane's nieces that Jane's sister Cassandra advocated for an alternate ending to "Mansfield Park" in which Fanny agreed to marry Henry Crawford. Another example is the suggestion that Jane's brother and literary agent Henry actually selected the titles of her two posthumously published novels, "Persuasion" and "Northanger Abbey".

A few small cautions are in order. Le Faye's discussion of Jane's life mixes mentions of Jane Austen's fictional characters and the members of her real life family in a way that may be confusing to readers new to her work. Le Faye may be overconfident in her speculations about some real life locations as the basis for their fictional counterparts in the novels. The offerings of period portraits in the second half of the book as representative of characters in the novels may be helpful to new readers; Jane Austen fans likley already have a mental picture of those characters.

This delightful book is highly recommended to fans of the Jane Austen novels and those looking for some social insight into the world of Georgian and Regency England.

2002's "Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels" is author Diedre Le Faye's highly enjoyable survey of the world of romance writer Jane Austen's beloved stories. Austen's novels continue to be popular because her characters are so true to life. However, as Le Faye tellingly notes, the modern reader misses at least aspects of the novels because we lack understanding of the Georgian and Regency England context in which they occur.

Jane Austen left behind only a limited footprint for future biographers: her six completed novels, a few incomplete or juvenile manuscripts, and some surviving letters to family and friends. A few relatives captured further details in memoirs or comments. To expand this limited quantity of information, Le Faye investigates Austen's immediate and extended family, the places she lived or may reasonably have traveled to, the customs and fashions of the day, the class system, and such mundane details as food, clothing, and sanitation.

The effect of this, the first half of the book, is to help us better appreciate the novels. In "Pride and Prejudice", the reader can understand why Mr. Darcy's refusal to dance with Elizabeth Bennet at their first meeting was so exceptionally rude, and why Elizabeth could not respond directly to Darcy's letter. In "Emma", the reader learns why her attempts to interest Mr. Elton in Harriet Smith were likely to be understood as Emma's interest in him, thus adding a comical sense of impending disaster to Mr. Elton's eventual marriage proposal to a shocked Emma. In "Sense and Sensibility", we learn why a man could not break an engagement to a woman (although the woman could). Thus, when Edward Feres stood by his prior engagement to Lucy Steele in the face of the opposition of his family, Jane Austen's contemporaries understood this as a noble action, an interpretation not obvious to the modern reader.

The second half of the book is an extended review of Jane Austen's novels in the order in which they are believed to have been written. Readers already familiar with Jane Austen's work and not wishing to wrestle with her literary criticism should still skim this portion for some interesting details about the writing of each novel. An example is the startling recollection by one of Jane's nieces that Jane's sister Cassandra advocated for an alternate ending to "Mansfield Park" in which Fanny agreed to marry Henry Crawford. Another example is the suggestion that Jane's brother and literary agent Henry actually selected the titles of her two posthumously published novels, "Persuasion" and "Northanger Abbey".

A few small cautions are in order. In the discussion of Jane's life, readers new to Jane Austen may not be able to readily differentiate between her fictional characters and the members of her real life family. Le Faye is perhaps overconfident in speculating about some real life locations as the basis for their fictional counterparts in the novels. The offerings of period portraits in the second half of the book as representative of characters in the novels may be helpful only to new readers; Jane Austen fans will already have a mental picture of those characters.

This delightful book is highly recommended to fans of the Jane Austen novels and those looking for some social insight into the world of Georgian and Regency England.

For anyone who wants to know more about the period Jane Austin lived and wrote her novels about, this is the book for you; very informative of that period.

As a longtime student of Jane, this book absolutely riveted me. you learn so much about her life, her times, her works, and her influences, and the style of this beautiful book is enchanting. LeFaye skillfully weaves together pieces of biography, history, and plot to create a fascinating Austen portrait. It is also lavishly illustrated and printed on lovely paper, which helps make it one of my favorite books, period. A must have for any Jane lover.

Jane Austen's novels are endlessly layered and this book does a fascinating job of peeling the onion so we have full understanding of her world.

On the one hand, this book is very useful because the writer is a top expert on Austen. But while she gives a lot of information on Austen's culture, she spends too many pages givng long plot summaries. I recommend JANE AUSTEN FOR DUMMIES as a great alternative: the author of that gives a great sense of the culture, characters, and Austen, herself, in a witty, clear style.

Being a bit of a Jane Austen magpie and already owning other books by Le Faye, I looked forward to gaining more background to the time period with this book. While there was much of interest, I'd have to say that overall I wouldn't recommend it. There were some inaccuracies in the plot summaries (minor, but there all the same), but the biggest problem for readers who may be new to Jane Austen was the lack of delineation between the real people (family members, friends) mentioned and characters from the books. I could see this becoming fairly confusing for someone who hasn't already read other biographical material. Still, it's a decent read and the information presented may stimulate a person's interest enough to want to find out more.

Being a bit of a Jane Austen magpie and already owning other books by Le Faye, I looked forward to gaining more background to the time period with this book. While there was much of interest, I'd have to say that overall I wouldn't recommend it. There were some inaccuracies in the plot summaries (minor, but there all the same), but the biggest problem for readers who may be new to Jane Austen was the lack of delineation between the real people (family members, friends) mentioned and characters from the books. I could see this becoming fairly confusing for someone who hasn't already read other biographical material. Still, it's a decent read and the information presented may stimulate a person's interest enough to want to find out more.

I am a Jane Austen fan, to say the least. I have read all her works and enjoyed them. The only thing that annoyed me was the fact that I knew little about culture and life in her day. When I saw this book I was very excited. It gives a brief history of England (during the time of Jane Austen's life), a biography of Ms. Austen, explination of the culture, and detailed explinations of each book. This book is packed with pictures and maps that are also very helpful and give each of Jane Austen's stories a "face." If you are a Austen fan, you need to read this book!