Tiffany Franchesca Cruz

The books we read shape us. The works we choose to spend our time with influence our ideas, our imaginations, and the way we see the world. This year, I read Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney. She offers greater insight into Austen’s literary life. She explores the female authors who inspired Austen, while documenting Romney’s journey as a rare bookseller collecting books that Austen cherished. The book feels deeply personal. As a literature  lover and Austenite, the text felt like a love letter to Austen and bibliophiles alike. Among the authors Romney writes about are Frances Burney’s who wrote Evelina and Maria Edgeworth who wrote Belinda. Both novels develop strong female characters who  explore societal rules while also seeking potential husbands—key themes that are central to Austen’s works. This paper examines these novels, highlighting how Austen took inspiration from both these women to create her beloved books. Both works have many parallels which showcases Austen’s attachment to them while also  conveying the importance of women writers in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. We will create our own “Jane Austen’s Bookshelf” by going through contemporary novels that I love which feel inspired by Austen’s legacy. I encourage you all to comment below what novels you would include in your own bookshelf. 

Works Cited

Atwater, Olivia. Half a Soul. Orbit, n.d.

Brower, Beth. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1. Rhysdon Press, n.d.

Burney, Frances, and Vivien Jones. Evelina. Edited by Edward A. Bloom. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Edgeworth, Maria. Belinda. Edited by Linda Bree. Oxford University Press, 2020.

Holton, India. The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love. Berkley, n.d.

Oliver, Katie. Pride, Prejudice, and Peril. Berkley, n.d.

Romney, Rebecca. Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend. Scribner, n.d.

Zoboi, Ibi. Pride: A Pride & Prejudice Remix. Versify, n.d.