Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius

Her Love of Theatre and Why She is a Hit in Hollywood

Author: Paula Byrne

A radical look at Jane Austen as you’ve never seen her – as a lover of farce, comic theatre and juvenilia. The Genius of Jane Austen celebrates Britain’s favourite novelist 200 years after her death and explores why her books make such awesome movies, time after time.

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'I relished every page … This is the best book on Jane Austen I have ever read’ Spectator

'Compelling … a delightful and engrossing book … Byrne’s passion is nothing if not persuasive’ Sunday Times

Was Jane Austen a woman of prim manners and genteel calm? Or someone who behaved outrageously, filled with sharp wit and wild comedy?

Looking afresh at adaptations of Austen’s work – from the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice to Emma Thompson’s Sense and Sensibility and the wildly successful Clueless – bestselling biographer Paula Byrne presents a bold new portrait of Austen as you’ve never seen her before.

‘A definitive and pioneering study of a wholly neglected aspect of Austen’s art' Michael Caines, TLS

‘Entertaining and engaging’ Literary Review

[Previously published as The Genius of Jane Austen]

Critic Reviews

“'I relished every page ... Byrne's knowledge of everything Austen wrote has an enviable thoroughness and perception which is rare among Austen scholars and which illuminates the whole of her text. I am tempted to say this is the best book on Jane Austen I have ever read.' Paul Johnson, The Spectator 'A definitive and pioneering study of a wholly neglected aspect of Austen's art' Michael Caines, Times Literary Supplement 'A fascinating analysis that marries meticulous historical research with critical imagination and flair' The Historical Journal”

‘I relished every page … Byrne’s knowledge of everything Austen wrote has an enviable thoroughness and perception which is rare among Austen scholars and which illuminates the whole of her text. I am tempted to say this is the best book on Jane Austen I have ever read.’ Paul Johnson, The Spectator

‘A definitive and pioneering study of a wholly neglected aspect of Austen’s art’ Michael Caines, Times Literary Supplement

‘A fascinating analysis that marries meticulous historical research with critical imagination and flair’ The Historical Journal

About the Author

Paula Byrne was born in Birkenhead and has a PhD from the University of Liverpool, where she is a Research Fellow in English Literature. Her first book, Jane Austen and the Theatre, was shortlisted for the Theatre Book Prize. Her second book, Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson , the tale of the scandalous star of the 18th-century stage, literature and high-society, was a Richard and Judy bookclub pick. Her most recent book is Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead. The story of Evelyn Waugh's friendship with the extraordinary aristocratic family who inspired Brideshead Revisited, it was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller. A regular contributor to the 'Times Literary Supplement', she lives in Warwickshire with her two young children and her husband, the critic and biographer Jonathan Bate.