Jane Austen was born in Steventon rectory on 16 December 1775. Her family later moved to Bath, then to Southampton and finally to Chawton in Hampshire. She began writing Pride and Prejudice when she was twenty-two years old. It was originally called First Impressions and was initially rejected by the publishers and only published in 1813 after much revision. She published four of her novels in her lifetime, Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Jane Austen died on 18th July 1817. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were both published posthumously in 1818.
Lynne Truss is the bestselling author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves and Talk to the Hand, as well as a journalist, arts and book reviewer, sports columnist and a regular broadcaster for BBC's Radio 4.
Leanne Shapton is an illustrator, author and publisher based in New York City. http://leanneshapton.com/
