Jane Austin

The book I read to research this post was Jane Austin for Dummies by Joan Elizabeth Klingel Ray which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. Jane Austin only wrote a few books & died at the age of 41 from Addisons disease which basically meant all her organs gradually shut down. Although a successful author in her lifetime people didn't know who she was until after her death when it appeared in her obituary. Writing books for ladies was not supposed to be something they did. Her books only became part of the curriculum in schools after feminism got popular in the 60's. She lived in the georgian period in which there were 4 consecutive king georges. George was insane & funnily enough one of the things they treated it with was arsenic which made it worse. Two of her brothers were officers in the navy & you can tell from her books  that she respected them. Britain had a war with France which she wrote about indirectly. There were the gordon riots when people rioted against the governments relaxing the laws against catholicism. Indeed if you wanted to go to oxbridge or be an officer in the army or serve in public office you had to be anglican. Although Austins family were gentry they were not nearly as wealthy as in her novels. Her family were unable to afford a dowry so she couldn't get married. There was a very sophisticated form of etiquette among the gentry which is seen in her books. Also the wealthy were expected to help the poor which is frequently a theme in her books.