Jane Austen's Bookshelf

It all started with a book that made me curious.When rare books dealer Rebecca Romney found an emerald clothbound edition of Evelina by Frances Burney, she was happy to discover that shed stumbled across a novel by one of Jane Austens favourite authors. Inspired by the connection between the two writers, she returned to Austens books with a new lens, picking out clues sprinkled throughout her works that pointed to the writers she had admired. Austen read William Shakespeare, John Milton, Daniel Defoe, and Samuel Richardson, all authors Rebecca had read. But Austen also read Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Hannah More, Charlotte Smith, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth, all authors Romney hadnt.