Dear Jane Austen: A Heroine's Guide to Life and Love [Paperback]

Advice delivered with sense and sensibility just in time for the major motion picture Becoming Jane

Women have looked to Jane Austen’s heroines as models of appropriate behavior for nearly two centuries. Who better to understand the heart of a heroine than Austen? In this delightful epistolary “what if,” Austen serves as a “Dear Abby” of sorts, using examples from her novels and her life to counsel modern-day heroines in trouble, she also shares with readers a compelling drama playing out in her own drawing room. Witty and wise—and perfectly capturing the tone of the author of Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice—Dear Jane Austen is as satisfying as sitting down to tea with the novelist herself.Chapter One

A Heroine’s Character

“Till this moment, I never knew myself.”
-Elizabeth Bennet, Pride and Prejudice

Dear Jane Austen,

My love life is the pits. Everyone says I’m pretty and nice and smart but I can’t hold on to a boyfriend. I am obsessed with the idea that if I were only taller, or thinner, or more athletic, or had thicker hair, or wore better clothes, or danced better… if I were just different – somehow better – I could keep a boyfriend. What do your heroines know that I don’t know? How can I be perfect the way they are?

Hating Myself

Dear Hating Heroine,

Your mistake is one that millions of women fall into. In your distress you imagine my heroines to be without flaw but a moment’s cooler reflection will show you your error. Pictures of perfection, like the heroines of romance novels, make me sick and wicked, and you will not find them in my lÃ"