Genius Fan

Today, 16 December, is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen. An excellent take away of this blog post is that you should make it a resolution for 2026 to read her novel, Pride and Prejudice. It’s her most famous (you know, Mr Darcy and all that) and was published in 1813…I know, I know, that’s the Nineteenth century. Boo, hiss, blows raspberry. But she wrote it when she was 20-21…and that would make it a novel written…using the basic arithmetic function of addition…written in 1796. Ergo, it’s an Eighteenth century novel. (Everyone can calm down now and put the kettle on.) Jane grew up in a house of ten: Mum, Dad and eight kids and experienced society of late 1700s, mid-Georgian England. The Romantic movement was emerging onto the western world, reacting to the science and reason of the Enlightenment age which itself was just settling down. The French Revolution had energised France which by that point, 1796, had been at war with Britain for several years, oh and America had gained its independence. There was a lot going on.

So, when you go to the High Street clutching that £15 voucher – a Christmas card gift from your nan – I recommend you buy a copy of Pride and Prejudice. Discovering how wonderful a writer Austen is and how entertaining the Pride and Prejudice story is, is a surprise that awaits everyone. I burst out laughing in a couple of places. It’s comic. And it’s emotional. It’s a great book and I recommend you read it on the page.