England's Jane: The Story of Jane Austen

by Juliane Poirier Locke

Describes the life of one of England's most beloved female authors, known for such works as "Emma," "Pride and Prejudice," and "Sense and Sensibility."

Genres: Biography, Jane Austen, Nonfiction

144 pages, Library Binding

First published February 28, 2006

Reviews

[Rebecca Oplinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely visit with one of my favorite authors. This was a beautiful, simple account of her life with excerpts of letters and reproductions of sketches and paintings from Jane & her beloved sister Cassandra. I appreciated the easy to read style and format of this biography. 4.5 stars rounded up.

[the agent]

(for my English project)

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a little dry for my taste - but I learned a few new things about Jane Austen. This book made me want to rewatch the Becoming Jane movie with Anne Hathaway, and reread Austen's books.

[CharlotteReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

England's Jane is a very readable introduction to the life of Jane Austen, her time and her works. The intended audience is YA. The volume is brief, with many quotes, letters from JA, and information about her life, writing and family, as well as some politics and changes she saw in her lifetime as well as social factors that influenced her writings.

[Catherine Flynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book brought me in the 18th century with a great story telling. The glossy colorful photos were just amazing that put more life to the book. Although this book was for youth genre, this can literary also be for adults and everyone else who enjoys storytelling biography type of books. I love it! Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys Jane Austen life or just a little history of the regency era.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a YA book and very easy to understand. I quite enjoyed it. It was easy to see how she incorporated her own life into her books. It is just sad that the medicine of that time couldn't save her.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

i had to do a research project and decided to do it on miss jane austen and it helped a lot with the information i needed

[Wendy E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great YA version of Jane's life and Jane's England. The "pop out" boxes of information on Napoleon, Marie Antoniette and other major figures of the day were great. This particular book would help tie together history and literature and understand the relationship between the two! I learned quite a bit from the author, and I think I've read my fair share of nonfiction about Jane. I liked that she included copies of letters and highlighted things that teen readers would be more interested in - the pattens, or wooden "shoes" with metal rings on the bottom, that the women were forced to wear to balls in order to keep their slippers free from mud and manure. Never knew that one! I will read some of the other books in this author-focused series.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not much of a nonfiction reader, I will rarely pick it up unless forced to. But when I saw this listed on SPL reccommended biographies for teens I thought I'd give it a try, and I did indeed enjoy it. I knew surprisingly little about the woman I claim to be one of my favorite authors. I have seen "Becoming Jane", the recently released biopic, and while there are some similarities there are many details that are changed or left out. Not too surprising I suppose. I found that the details of her relationships with her parents and sibling were very different. Also interesting were the details of her career and premature death.

[Slee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning more about the life of Jane Austen and her legacy, but this book was written in a manner which never allowed the reader to feel like they were reading the story of a life. It was very much a "textbook biography," constantly droning on about the facts and their place in history without much personality. I suspect Miss Jane Austen would have groaned to have read it. All of the wit and careful depiction of human interaction that Austen was known for is entirely missing in this piece, or worse, discussed in a dry lecturesque manner.
It's written as YA non-fic, but I can't imagine the youthful having the patience to read it.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A serviceable and succinct juvenile biography of Jane Austen, this book provided good basics of Austen's life along with relevant information about her time. After completing this, I think I will seek out a biography written for adults, one with hopefully a bit more substance and style, but this one is a good basic I would recommend for any young woman interested in learning about the woman behind the masterful novels.

[Janae · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was written for young adults. As a huge fan of Jane Austen I wanted to know more about her. This gives you some insight into her short life. I enjoyed reading about her upbringing and background. This is an easy fast read. I recommend if you'd like to know the basics of her life. I plan on reading A Memoir of Jane Austen written by her nephew to learn more.

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good biography that places Jane austen in historical context. There are caveats of current events and excerpts from her letters that are interesting to read. It is geared toward a young adult audience.

My very favorite Jane bio so far is "Jane Austen" by Carol Shields. A much deeper investigation of Jane and her writing.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written and well organized book regarding the actual life of Jane Austen. We learn so much more about Jane than the public claims to know. I learned she was called "Jenny" as a baby and that she had typhus along with Cassandra and a beloved cousin while away at boarding school while they were very young. I continued to love this book the more I read it!

[Stephi K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite Austen biography I've read so far. It seemed well-researched and put her works in context: both in her time and today. It had a lot of great detail, but not as much as my inquiring mind would have liked. Not too long.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even tho' this was aimed at teens I enjoyed it very much. It was simple, concise, covered several topics, gave a good basic synopsis of Jane's life. I thought it covered just enough and perhaps could have done a little more but then again many teens wouldn't have wanted to read it.

[Amy Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for young adults to learn her history. I learned a lot and enjoyed it. Gave little glimpses of famous people that lived and would have influenced her life at that time.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love jane austen!