We must confess that we expected something rather different from 101 Things You Didn’t Know About Jane Austen. We expected something more like a list of overlooked scenes from the novel, or explanations of references to commonplace items or ideas from Jane Austen’s time, long since forgotten. We are glad to have our preconceptions destroyed in this case, because what we received is much richer: a book truly about Jane Austen.

The author, Patrice Hannon (author of Dear Jane Austen), has put together a book packed with biographical information and insights into Jane Austen’s novels. We often are asked to recommend a first Jane Austen biography, and we think this beautifully-presented volume would be an excellent choice for any new or longtime Janeite.

The book is organized in sections relating to Jane’s childhood, young adulthood, her writing career, her later life, and her legacy. Each of the 101 Things explores an aspect of Jane’s life or work, following the timeline of her life and how the things and people she knew are reflected in her novels. As in her first book, the author shows her deep knowledge of and insight into her subject. Ms. Hannon has an engaging writing style, and the book is easy to read without being lightweight; scholarly but not stuffy. Any biographical work about Jane Austen requires a certain amount of authorial speculation, and Ms. Hannon occasionally indulges, but her speculation is intelligent and knowledgeable, which must disarm reproof.

Like many of the Jane Austen-related books currently being published, this book is being positioned as a companion volume for the film Becoming Jane. We hope that viewers of Becoming Jane who are curious to learn more about her will find this volume and discover, as the subtitle claims, the truth about Jane Austen.

AustenBlog is giving away a copy of 101 Things You Didn’t Know About Jane Austen. E-mail us at editor AT austenblog DOT com and tell us the date of Jane Austen’s birth to be entered in a drawing. All entries received by Sunday, March 25, at 5 p.m. EST will be entered in the drawing.

It’s more than a week still to April 1, or we would be wondering if someone was pulling our leg with some of the stuff sent in by Alert Janeites today.

Alert Janeite Stefanie sent us a link to an article in The Times about a new portrait of Jane Austen that was commissioned by the publisher Wordsworth Editions to make Jane “prettier.”

Helen Trayler, its managing director, said: “The poor old thing didn’t have anything going for her in the way of looks. Her original portrait is very, very dowdy. It wouldn’t be appealing to readers, so I took it upon myself to commission a new picture of her.

“We’ve given her a bit of a makeover, with make-up and some hair extensions and removed her nightcap. Now she looks great — as if she’s just walked out of a salon.”

Excuse us–nightcap? Does one wonder why we thought this an April Fool gag? (more…)