Anna Austen Lefroy (1793-1872) (Jane-Anna-Elizabeth Austen/Anna Lefroy) was the niece of
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
by her eldest brother
James Austen
James Austen was an English clergyman, best known for being the eldest brother of celebrated novelist Jane Austen. His father George Austen's living had been in Steventon, Hampshire, and James succeeded him in this position, in 1801.
Austen's ...
, and a contributor to her life-history via the so-called ''Lefroy MS''.
A keen if amateur writer herself, Anna was the recipient of the most revealing of Austen's letters on literary matters.
Life
Known in family tradition as a naughty child, Anna became a lively, outgoing and changeable adolescent - "quite an Anna with variations" as her Aunt put it (startled by the unexpected cropping of her niece's hair).
At the age of twenty, Anna became engaged to a family connection, Benjamin Lefroy, and despite family opposition the pair were married in 1814. The marriage seems to have been a successful one, and by 1817 the pair had two young daughters, and Anna was apparently expecting again: "Poor Animal, she will be worn out before she is thirty", wrote her Aunt. The couple had seven children in all, before Anna lost her husband in 1829.
Writings
Niece and aunt had bonded over a love of 'bad' romantic fiction, such as that by
Rachel Hunter
Rachel Hunter (born 8 September 1969) is a New Zealand model, actress and the host of Imagination Television's ''Rachel Hunter's Tour of Beauty''. She has appeared on several magazine covers, including ''Vogue'', ''Elle'', ''Rolling Stone'', ' ...
; and when during her engagement Anna began writing a novel - known as ''Enthusiasm'' or ''Which is the Heroine?'' - it was natural for her to share it with her aunt.
Anna also tried her hand at continuing an early Austen story called 'Evelyn'; as well as (later) the unfinished ''
Sanditon
''Sanditon'' (1817) is an unfinished novel by the English writer Jane Austen. In January 1817, Austen began work on a new novel she called ''The Brothers'', later titled ''Sanditon'', and completed eleven chapters before stopping work in mid-M ...
''.
See also
*
References
External links
A. A. L. - A Believer in True Love
{{Authority control
1793 births
1872 deaths
Austen family
Austen, Anna