Jane Austen

Colorized version of traditional drawing of Jane Austen

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist. Little recognised in her own lifetime, she has become the most widely read author of her era. She is known for her sharply drawn comic novels, portraying the society she lived in, the minor landed gentry of the early nineteenth century. She was born in Steventon, Hampshire to the Reverend George Austen and his wife Cassandra, the seventh of eight children.