Jane Austen is one of the most famous authors to ever exist, and her legacy still continues. Her works of romantic fiction, along with biting commentary and irony make them stand the test of time, and has immortalized her as one of the most progressive authors. Austen’s birthday is on December 16, so we decided to look at where some of her famous works took place. She lived in different parts of England growing up, which have influenced her works and her writing process. Her most iconic works – six completed novels – paint a picture of England that readers can still imagine today. Though Austen lived centuries ago, her works will live on forever, and so will the locations of some of her novels.
1. Emma
Emma, which follows a girl who lives in a high class Regency England, decides she likes being a matchmaker after taking credit for her governess’s marriage. The novel takes place in Highbury, England, which was described as small village where everyone knows everyone else’s business. Emma is witty, a bit annoying, yet charismatic, is convinced that she is a great matchmaker and has the ability to change things around her. Sound familiar? The film Clueless is loosely based off of this famed Austen classic.
2. Pride and Prejudice
photo via telegraph.co.uk
Known as Austen’s most romantic novel, Pride and Prejudice takes place in f Longbourn, England, where things are turned upside down when Charles Bingley, a wealthy gentleman, moves in nearby. Desperate to have all her daughters married, Mrs. Bennet is on her husband to get to know Mr. Bingley. Part romance, and part comedy, Longbourn was another small, rural area of England. I think I’m starting to sense a pattern here.
3. Sense and Sensibility
photo via BBC
Sense and Sensibility was Austen’s first published novel, published under the pseudonym “A Lady.” Sense and Sensibility is set in southwest England between 1792 and 1797, and follows the lives and love woes of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Mariann. The novel starts in Sussex, but soon Mrs. Dashwood, Elinor and Mariann’s mother, gets rejected from their family and they end up living in Devonshire.
4. Mansfield Park
photo via Austenprose
Mansfield Park, takes place in, you guessed it, Mansfield Park. The novel follows 10 year old Fanny Price, a poor girl from a large family who is sent to her rich aunt and uncle to be raised in Mansfield Park.
