Paula Byrne’s first book, Jane Austen and the Theatre, was shortlisted for the Theatre Book Prize and has been described by Paul Johnson as ‘the best book on Jane Austen’. Her second, Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson, was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club in 2005, shortlisted for the British Book Awards ‘Best Read’, longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, longlisted for the British Academy Book Award and was a Sunday Times bestseller. Her third book, Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead, was another Sunday Times bestseller. In 2011, Paula made a BBC2 documentary on her discovery of a portrait of Jane Austen, thought by many experts to be the only professional portrait of the novelist painted from life. Her fourth book, The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things, was published to critical acclaim in 2013. She is married to the critic and biographer Jonathan Bate and lives in Oxford.