Est. 2026 · A Reader's Companion
The world of Jane Austen, entire.
Her life, her six novels, her unforgettable characters, and two centuries of adaptations — researched, referenced, and written for readers.
The Six Novels
1811
Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility (1811) was Jane Austen's first published novel, issued anonymously as 'By a Lady'. It contrasts the Dashwood sisters — prudent Elinor and passionate Marianne — as reduced circumstances force them from their home and into the Regency marriage market.
1813
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice (1813) is Jane Austen's second published novel and her most famous work. It follows Elizabeth Bennet, the quick-witted second of five sisters, as she navigates courtship, class, and her evolving judgment of the proud Mr. Darcy in Regency-era England.
1814
Mansfield Park
Mansfield Park (1814) is Austen's most serious novel. Shy, principled Fanny Price is raised by wealthy relations at Mansfield Park, where questions of morality, education, and integrity play out against flirtation and worldliness.
1815
Emma
Emma (1815) follows Emma Woodhouse, 'handsome, clever, and rich', a self-appointed matchmaker in the village of Highbury whose schemes misfire until she learns to know her own heart. Many critics consider it Austen's most technically perfect novel.
1817
Northanger Abbey
Northanger Abbey (published posthumously in 1817) is Austen's affectionate parody of Gothic fiction. Naive Catherine Morland's imagination, fed on novels, runs wild during her visit to the Tilneys' abbey before reality gently corrects her.
1817
Persuasion
Persuasion (published posthumously in 1817) is Austen's last completed novel and her most autumnal. Anne Elliot, persuaded eight years earlier to refuse Captain Wentworth, meets him again — successful, resentful, and still unmarried.
1871
Lady Susan
Lady Susan is Jane Austen's early epistolary novella, written around 1794 but not published until 1871 — over fifty years after her death. Its heroine, the widowed and manipulative Lady Susan Vernon, is Austen's most openly scheming creation, seducing and scheming her way through other people's households.
1817
Sanditon
Sanditon is Jane Austen's last work, abandoned after eleven chapters in March 1817 when her final illness made writing impossible; she died four months later. Set in a fledgling seaside resort town being remade by speculation and health fads, it is Austen's most forward-looking, commercially minded fragment — and her most tantalizing might-have-been.
Her Life
From Steventon rectory to Winchester Cathedral — the biography, family, and the mysteries of her final year.
Characters A–Z
Darcy’s income, Emma’s schemes, Anne Elliot’s constancy — every character, cross-referenced with the novels and films.
On Screen
From Olivier to Netflix 2026: every adaptation compared, cast by cast, against the books.
Quote of the Day
“Pictures of perfection as you know make me sick & wicked.”
— Letter to Fanny Knight, 23 March 1817
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