Jane Austen is one of the best-loved novelists of all time, with legions of fans all over the world. However, despite the immense popularity of her work, the life of Jane Austen the writer is often misunderstood.

To most people, Austen inhabited a genteel world where the primary concern was finding a suitable husband; in reality, she lived in turbulent times, constantly relocating and forging a living against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars.

Janet Todd is a lifelong enthusiast for Jane Austen, and is the author of Lady Susan Plays the Game and A Man of Genius . In this intriguing event, she will bust the myths that surround Austen’s life and shed light on 41 years that changed literary history.

About The Speaker

Janet Todd

Janet is a Lifelong enthusiast for Jane Austen, and the author of a spinoff, Lady Susan Plays the Game. She currently writes novels, her latest being A Man of Genius set in Venice in Austen’s period. Her revised biography of Austen’s greatest predecessor, Aphra Behn, is out this year.