CHAPTER 9
The Words Live On

While the manuscript for Mansfield Park was being set at the printer, Jane began her fourth novel, Emma. The story of Emma was funny and lighthearted, more in the style of her first two books. Jane said she wanted to create a strong female character “whom no one but myself will much like.” The book focuses on Emma’s attempts at matchmaking—setting her friends up on dates—which all end in disaster.

Mansfield Park was a success and the first printing sold out within six months. Jane earned more money than she had ever earned before. But Mr. Egerton refused to reprint the book! This upset Henry Austen. Because no one knew that Jane was the author, her brother Henry contacted another publisher on Jane’s behalf. He sold Emma to John Murray in December 1815. Mr. Murray also bought the rights to publish Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility.

Henry became ill in November, and Jane stayed with him while he recovered. One of the doctors who came to visit Henry was the personal physician to the Prince of Wales—the son of King George III and the heir to the throne of England. While treating Henry, the doctor told Jane that the Prince of Wales enjoyed reading her books!

Jane was invited to visit the prince’s library at Carlton House in London. While she was there, the librarian suggested that she dedicate her next book to the prince. Jane was shocked by this request. The prince was known for his selfishness and sometimes scandalous behavior. Jane did not want to mention him in her book.

But Jane’s family told her that she could not turn down this request. Dedicating her book to the prince might help sell more copies. So Jane agreed and dedicated Emma to the Prince of Wales. She also presented him with a special red-leather bound copy.

Most critics agreed that Emma was Jane’s best book yet. Sir Walter Scott, a famous author at that time, said that Emma was a great example of a new style of novel that showed ordinary people and everyday life.

But there was still one manuscript of Jane’s that had not been published. So Jane asked Henry to get in touch with Richard Crosby and buy back the rights to Susan. It had now been thirteen years since he had paid so little for the manuscript he never published. Once Henry made the deal, he told the publisher that Susan was by the same author of the very successful books Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Emma. Mr. Crosby had passed up a very big opportunity!

While she was writing her next book, Jane began to feel ill. She and Cassandra traveled to a spa, hoping that the rest and warm waters might help with Jane’s fever and the pain in her back. When they returned home to Chawton, Jane finished the first draft of her latest manuscript. There were parts she wanted to revise. But before she did, she decided to go back and once again work on Susan.

As the year went on, Jane began to feel better. She finished Susan and retitled it Northanger Abbey. And she also finished her new manuscript, which she called Persuasion. But not long into the new year of 1817, Jane’s fever and pain returned. It became too difficult for Jane to work, so she put her writing aside.

Jane tried to hide her illness. She joked about it in letters to her family. But she privately took it seriously enough to write her will in April 1817. She wanted to leave small gifts to her brother Henry and his housekeeper. Everything else she would leave to her “dearest Sister Cassandra.” In May, Jane went to visit a new doctor. But it was clear that there was not much that could be done for her. Although she was growing weaker, Jane continued to have visitors and write letters to friends and family.

On July 18, 1817, at the age of forty-one, Jane Austen died. Cassandra was at her bedside. Six days later, Jane was buried in Winchester Cathedral, the city’s ancient, historic church.

Jane’s family knew how much her novels meant to her. After her death, they made sure that both Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published. And for the first time, Jane’s name appeared as the author of her books.

James Edward Austen-Leigh

In 1869, her nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, published A Memoir of Jane Austen. The memoir introduced all six of Jane’s novels to a much larger audience. Fifty-two years after her death, Jane Austen’s writing was, once again, as popular as ever.

Jane’s Juvenilia notebooks still exist: One is in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England, and the other two are in the British Museum in London. And her work lives on in countless adaptations: movies, television shows, and new versions of her beloved stories.

Jane Austen accomplished what she set out to do: She achieved success as a published author in a time when it was very uncommon for women to even dream of having careers. Although she was not famous during her lifetime, her novels have rarely been out of print since then.

And in 2013, the Bank of England announced that Jane Austen will be the first woman whose portrait will appear on British money. In addition to Jane’s face, the ten-pound banknote will feature the following quote: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!”

On the Screen

These are just a few of the many movies and TV shows based on the Jane Austen novels Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion: