Jane Austen

Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an English novelist born in Steventon, Hampshire, the seventh of eight children of Rev. George Austen and Cassandra Leigh Austen. Her six novels - Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion - are known for their wit, social commentary, and pioneering use of free indirect discourse, centered on the marriage market and domestic life of the English gentry. All were published anonymously during her lifetime; her authorship was revealed only after her death through her brother Henry's biographical notice. She died in Winchester, Hampshire, in 1817 and is buried in Winchester Cathedral.