Dearest Cousin Jane: A Jane Austen Novel: 2

Dearest Cousin Jane: A Jane Austen Novel: 2

by JillPitkeathley (Author)

Synopsis

Drawing on historical fact, Jill Pitkeathley paints a luminous portrait of Jane Austen's free-spirited and seductive cousin, Countess Eliza de Feuillide - from her flirtatious younger years to her great influence on one of the world's favourite authors. Speculated to have been born from a love affair between her mother and the great Warren Hastings, founder of the East India Company and the British Raj, Eliza was a precocious young woman and well-known flirt. Educated in England and France, she went on to marry a French count, Jean de Feuillide, and bear one son with him, who died before reaching adulthood. She later suffered the loss of her husband when Madame la Guillotine claimed him during the early days of the French Revolution. Eliza was close to the Austen family throughout her days, and flirted with both of Jane's brothers profusely, encouraging both men to propose to her upon the death of her husband. She eventually accepted Jane's favourite brother Henry, bringing glamour and excitement on her visits to the Austen's country parsonage in England. With chapters in the voices of Jane, Jane's sister Cassandra, and other family members including Jane's love-sick brothers, Pitkeathley reveals Countess Eliza's influence on one of the world's best loved novelists - and that it is indeed high time her story is told.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 288
Edition: Original
Publisher: WmMorrowPB
Published: 01 Apr 2010

ISBN 10: 0061875988
ISBN 13: 9780061875984

Media Reviews
A well-researched and beautifully imagined novel. I loved Jill Pitkeathley's delicate hand and lightness of touch. . . . If Jane and the Austen family were not quite like this, they should have been. -- Ruth Rendell
This novel brings a new and enjoyable dimension to our knowledge of Jane Austen's life and work, and the extended family that was so significant in her development as a author. -- Janet Aylmer, author of Darcy's Story
Author Bio
Jill Pitkeathley was born in the Channel Islands of the United Kingdom. The former chief executive of the Carers National Association (now Carers UK), she is a Life Peer in the House of Lords, a longtime Austen fan, and the author of the novel Cassandra and Jane. She lives in London.