A Truth Universally Acknowledged

This book brings together 33 writers, past and present, on just what it is about Jane Austen that continues to delight, amuse, console and provoke us. Here Jay McInerny confesses to serial crushes on most of Austen's heroines, and celebrates her belief in true love. Amy Hecherling reveals how she transformed Emma into the hit romantic comedy Clueless , and Martin Amis muses on Pride and Prejudice as a divine comedy of love - and imagines a twenty-page sex scene between Lizzy and Darcy. Susanna Clarke shows how happiness depends on a good marriage in Austen's world, while Fay Weldon wonders whether the 'bad' girls in Mansfield Park have more fun. Whether discussing Austen's gift for comedy, why men and women respond to her differently, or why she would be an ideal dinner guest (although she wouldn't want to come), A Truth Universally Acknowledged shows that there is much more to Jane than ladies in empire-line dresses admiring the roses - and reminds us why we still love the author who wrote about love better than anyone else in the world.

Jane Austen – novelist, forthright letter writer, daughter and sister of Anglican clergy – had a rarely-matched insight into human character. Like Lent itself, she exposes frailty, caprice and pomposity without losing a profound and compassionate understanding of human nature. Her life was profoundly shaped by the church and Christian spirituality, making her writings an ideal accompaniment for the 40 days of Lent. Rachel Mann introduces Jane Austen, her world and her ideas, and, for each day of Lent, offers commentary on a short excerpt from her writing to explore how her faith can illuminate ours. She brings Jane's novels into conversation with biblical and spiritual ideas and also with today’s questions about class, sexuality and race. Themes explored include: The Triumph of Love, Learning Wisdom, Seeing Beyond the Surface to the Truth, Knowing Where Your Treasure Lies, The Temptation to be Prideful and Prejudiced, The Pomposity of Religion, Privilege and its Limitations, Duty and Good Manners, and much more.