Saturday, April 17

Jane Austen by Peter Leithart


The biography Jane Austen written by Peter Leithart is one of a series of biographies published by Thomas Nelson. Mr. Leithart did a thorough job of research in this work and covered extensively the events from before Jane Austen’s birth until after her death.

One must be very familiar with all of Austen’s work to completely relate to and understand this book. I found it a little too tedious to be enjoyable. Mr. Leithart discusses in great detail plots or characters from Austen’s books, then immediately switches to events or speculations about Jane’s actual life. It was a difficult book for me to follow. There are innumerable names throughout the book; both real life and characters. As I mentioned, one would have to be very familiar with all of Austen’s work and her relatives to digest it all.

I would conclude that Mr. Leithart put a great deal of energy into Jane Austen’s biography. It contains much information and is an informative work. My main complaint with the book is that it was not a book based on facts. Many assumptions and theories fill it and I personally prefer a more straight forward and factual account.

I received a review copy through the Thomas Nelson Booksneeze program.