In , acclaimed literary biographer Paula Byrne provides the most intimate and revealing portrait yet of a beloved but complex novelist.Just as letters and tokens in Jane Austens novels often signal key turning points in the narrative, Byrne explores the small things a scrap of paper, a gold chain, an ivory miniature that held significance in Austens personal and creative life.Byrne transports us to different worlds, from the East Indies to revolutionary Paris, and to different events, from a high society scandal to a case of petty shoplifting. In this ground-breaking biography, Austen is set on a wider stage than ever before, revealing a well-traveled and politically aware writer important aspects of her artistic development that have long been overlooked.is a fresh, compelling, and surprising biography of the author of some of our most enduring classic books from to to and a vivid evocation of the world that shaped her.