Brave Jane Austen: Reader, Writer, Author, Rebel by Lisa Pliscou (review)

Introducing children not far beyond primary school to the life and works of Jane Austen seems, at first glance, challenging at best. Pliscou, however, presents a neatly balanced biography that skillfully contextualizes just how remarkable Austen's hard-won status as a published author was for her time. Younger listeners and older readers are introduced to Austen as a young aspiring writer (supported by her progressive-leaning parents) who had a clear-eyed, tartly humorous take on her circumscribed society and who looked marriage customs in the face and determined that she would follow her fictional heroines' advice and refuse to marry "without Affection." Thus Pliscou (also the author of the longer work Young Jane Austen) places her Austen biography squarely in the tradition of picture-book coverage of other forward-thinking women, from adventurers to suffragists, and introduces themes from Austen's novels that can germinate until readers are old enough to tackle the originals. Corace's flat, doll-like figures move formally through compositions like rosy-cheeked characters in a book of fairy tales, a stylistic choice that unfortunately seems to infantilize Austen as she reaches her later years without much change in features. Text and back matter, however, are fluid and engaging, and aptly selected quotes from Austen and her admirers succinctly capture her enduring appeal. EB