Jane Austen was born December 16, 1775 in Hampshire, England at the Steventon rectory. She was the seventh of eight children and one of two daughters. The Austen’s were a close knit family, however, as the only girls, Austen and her older sister, Cassandra, formed a close relationship. It is through the pair's letters that biographers are able to construct an idea of Austen's life. Although, it should be noted that most of Austen’s letters were either burned or heavily edited by Cassandra before her death. Of all her brothers, Austen has the closest relationship with Henry. He acted as her literary agent and, upon her death, as one of her biographers. She and Henry were even said to have looked similar, with both having hazel eyes and curly hair.

Austen started attending school in Oxford, alongside her sister, when she was seven year old, but was not there long, as both the girls came down with typhus and were sent back home. The pair went back to school, this time in Reading, when Austen was nine, but they had to return to Steventon again shortly after they enrolled because their father could no longer afford the school’s tuition.

Austen’s father was Reverend George Austen of the Steventon rectory and was ordained at the Church of England. Her mother was Cassandra Leigh. Austen and her sister continued their education in Steventon, being taught at home by their father, who was aided by their brothers.

The Austen family was very close and would read aloud to one another often. At some point, these readings evolved into small performances that the family would put on in their barn for family and neighbors. Around age twelve, Austen would begin writing pieces for herself and for her family, such as the short plays they would put on, as well as poems and parodies of popular dramatic fiction novels (e.g. History of England and Love and Friendship).

At the age of twenty, Austen began writing what is now referred to as her “First Trilogy”. As she got older, and as she became increasingly surrounded by social engagements and romance, Austen was inspired to write a novel entitled Elinor and Marrianne. This would eventually be adapted into her first novel Sense and Sensibility. In 1796, the following year, she would write First Impression, which morphed into Pride And Prejudice after it was rejected by publishers. In 1798, Austen would begin writing the novel Susan, which later became Northanger Abbey.

Austen’s father surprised the family with the announcement that they would be moving from Steventon to Bath in 1801. Austen was unhappy with the move and struggled throughout her time in Bath, as she found it difficult to adjust to the city’s social demands. To make matters worse, her father died in 1805, only a few years after the family’s move, leaving the Austen women with very little to live off of. They hopped around for a while before finally finding a permanent home in a cottage in Chawton, Hampshire that belonged to one of Austen’s brothers, Edward Austen-Knight. It was here that Austen would publish and complete most of her novels, including her “Second Trilogy”.

Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice were completed in 1811. Sense and Sensibility was published that same year, and Pride and Prejudice followed soon after in 1813. Austen then began writing Mansfield Park (1814), followed by Emma (1815).

Though Austen often wrote of romance, she never married. She had a sort of “young love” with the Irish gentlemen, and later politician, Tom Lefroy. Lefroy, however, needed to marry into money, which Jane’s family did not have, and the two were separated. Austen fell in love again, this time with a young clergyman, on her family’s journey from Steventon to Bath. He had promised to meet them in the city but he, unfortunately, fell ill and died before he could fulfill his promise. tWhile in Bath, Austen got engaged to the son of a family friend named Harris Bigg-Wither, but she broke off the engagement the day after he proposed.

Persuasion was the last novel Austen completed before her death on July 18, 1817. It, alongside Northanger Abbey, were published that same year, after she died. It is widely accepted that Austen died from Addison’s Disease or Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, however, newer research seems to suggest that her death could have been caused by disseminated tuberculosis, which may be passed through exposure to cattle or unpasteurized milk. Her sister Cassandra was at her side when she died. According to one of Cassandra’s letters, Austen’s last words were: “ I want nothing but death”.