Jane’s brother Edward was adopted as a teenager by wealthy childless cousins – common at the time to advance a relative’s prospects – who made him their heir. There were servants, but Jane’s mother still had her hands full with eight children. George Austen, her father, was a clergyman-farmer and boosted his income to £1,000 a year by running a boarding school.

Her life began in 1775 at Steventon Rectory in Hampshire where she would spend 25 years – more than half her life – living in the house where she was born. ‘Jane Austen’s novels revolve around homes lost and mansions gained, the threat of poverty and the promise of wealth,’ explains Lucy, whose latest book Jane Austen At Home – released for the 200th anniversary of her death – charts Jane’s experiences as a poor relation. They had rich relations but their hopes of a substantial inheritance were never fulfilled.

The Austens struggled financially they were gentry without the money to fund a genteel lifestyle. In fiction she could make sure the poor but clever heroine won both the man and his impressive house.’ A woman who far from being a lonely spinster in fact had at least five marriage prospects, but who in the end refused to settle for anything less than Mr Darcy.‘I don’t think it’s a coincidence,’ says Lucy, ‘that this is the year Jane wrote the first draft of Pride And Prejudice. Jane famously lived a ‘life without incident’, but with new research and insights Lucy Worsley reveals a passionate woman who fought for her freedom. It wasn’t all country houses and ballrooms, but a life that was often a painful struggle. This new telling of the story of Jane’s life shows us how and why she lived as she did, examining the places and spaces that mattered to her. On the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death, historian Lucy Worsley leads us into the rooms from which our best-loved novelist quietly changed the world. Lucy Worsley ‘is a great scene-setter for this tale of triumph and heartbreak.’ Sunday Times ‘A refreshingly unique perspective on Austen and her work and a beautifully nuanced exploration of gender, creativity, and domesticity.’ Amanda Foreman ‘This is my kind of history: carefully researched but so vivid that you are convinced Lucy Worsley was actually there at the party – or the parsonage.’ Antonia Fraser

Jane austen at home by lucy worsley