Book Review: Jane Austen at Home is a casual and quirky new biography of everyone's favorite writer from Steventon. Informal and comfortable, it doesn't read like an academic treatise although it has the requisite notes and sourcing. Instead, it's more like a chat with a freind over tea, telling about a book she read recently, certain not to miss any of the gossipy (and racy) bits. Usually biographers who refer to their subject by first name annoy me no end, but in Worsley's writing it's natural and unaffected. The author stresses a number of points she believes are necessary to understanding Austen. Worsley emphasizes the difference between the free spirited Georgians of Austen's time, and the prim nature of the later Victorians. It's unclear whether this is merely a generational change (our parents' times being different than ours), or whether the culture actually transformed. She also notes that Austen was a Tory, a status quo conservative (openly contradicting the premise of the recent Jane Austen: the Secret Radical (2016) by Helena Kelly). Austen wrote of the classes above her own, the class of which she barely touched, but sometimes viewed, the bottom fringe. The financial difficulties and insecurities of Austen's own life, shines a clear light on the painful trials that faced Austen's heroines if without the safety of a good marriage or wealthy family. Although Austen wrote heartbreakingly of Charlotte Lucas and her willingness to endure an imperfect marriage to satisfy a desire for her own house, Austen was unwilling to make the same sacrifice. One of Worsley's great strengths is finding parallels to Austen's life in her novels or in the writings of neighboring contemporaries. Although Jane Austen at Home has some focus on Austen's houses and homes, domestic life and duties, it wasn't obtrusive and more seemed to signal that this book wasn't an exegesis of Austen's novels (though she knows the novels backward and forward).
Worsley has called herself "an entry-level historian," and admits that hers is a very personal take on Austen's life: "This is, unashamedly, the story of my Jane, every word of it written with love," who is "a better version of myself," in "a personal, not a definitive, interpretation of her life." She is more than willing to explore insignificant tangents, to speculate wildly and guess without evidence about instances and incidents in Austen's life. Departures and digression are frequent and Worsley is more than willing to go off on a frolic and detour. All information about Austen's life passes through her biases, with contemporary witnesses becoming "ungrateful" rather than reliable when their statements deviate from the author's preferences. Worsley's opinions carry equal weight with the facts (when Jane's words disagree with her interpretation, then "Jane was joking." She's also more than willing to avoid the high horse in her colorful informality: a highwayman "must have looked rather like Adam Ant"; Austen's letters are full of "bitterness, bitchiness and regret"; a relative wins "Legacy Bingo"; another relative "could be pain" (location of said pain not provided); her brother had been "sucking up to important people." Her own biases and pandering to her followers round out Worsley's take on Austen's life. She's correct: we all find and believe in our own personal version of Jane (see Helena Kelly, above).
For all you potential biographers out there, I'll tell you something for nothing. For those unfamiliar a nice map of the south of England (mainly Hampshire) would be quite helpful in clarifying Austen's story (without the awkward Googling).
Lucy Worsley is a celebrity, a BBC presenter, with loyal following -- it's easy to feel we know her and the book reflects her tone. Jane Austen at Home is a fun, engaging, and idiosyncratic take on Austen's life. For Austen fans it's like gossiping with another Janeite. For serious Austen readers, however, Claire Tomalin's 1997 biography might be a better place to start, with this one being a second or third supplement. Engaging, readable, and quirky, but not definitive. [3★]
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