Two Inches of Ivory

A vivid imagining of the lives of JANE AUSTEN and her family told in a novel

One snowy Christmas Mrs Austen gives birth to her seventh child, Jane. From birth to untimely death Jane’s path to becoming a successful novelist is constantly choked by unpredictable circumstances.

War with Napoleonic France, the press of poverty, fashionable Regency, the Romantic urge – all shape the Austens’ lives and fuel Jane’s imagination. Questions of love, feelings, freedom for women are continually thrown up, while she strives to balance family duties with the ups and downs of publishing fortunes

A fictional narrative carefully woven from letters, memoirs, biographies, brings to life the world of Jane Austen in its most intimate expression