Often compared to William Shakespeare, Jane Austen's genius was her cast of characters--so timeless and real that readers know them in their own families and neighborhoods today. Her book's universal themes--love and hate, hope and disappointment, pride and prejudice, sense and sensibility--still tug at heartstrings in cultures spanning the globe. Jane Austen lived during some of the most important events in history--the American Revolution, the French Revolution, British expansion in India, and the Napoleonic Wars. She wrote about daily life in England as she knew it, growing up a clergyman's daughter among the upper class of landowners, providing readers with a window into the soul of a lively, imaginative, and industrious woman in an age when most women were simply obscure shadows among society. A time line, resources for further study, places to visit, and 21 enriching activities round out this great resource for any reader looking for the woman behind the words.