Exclusive interview with authors Roy and Lesley Adkins about life during Jane Austen’s time
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Gabrielle Pantera
“Jane Austen had two brothers who were naval officers, Francis and Charles,” says Jane Austen’s England co-author Roy Adkins, who first thought in 2004 of writing a book about life in England during the time of Jane Austen while researching the Battle of Trafalgar.
“If it had not been for a twist of fate, Francis would have fought at Trafalgar, but his ship, HMS Canopus, was one of those sent away by Nelson to fetch fresh water and provisions while the rest of the British fleet kept an eye on the French and Spanish warships in the Spanish port of Cadiz…leading to the Battle of Trafalgar.”
Jane Austen’s England is the Regency time period between the 18th and 19th centuries. Husband-and-wife historians Roy and Lesley Adkins deeply researched politics, war and everyday life of the time. Austen’s middle class world and the lower classes are covered in great detail with lots of historical facts. The book can be read straight through or choose a chapter to read by topic, from fashion to medicine. This is a fantastic holiday gift for an Austen fan or history buff.
Although few of Austen’s letters survived because her sister burned them, new facts about the Austen family continue to be uncovered in unexpected places.
“When we visited the Somerset Heritage Centre, the home of the historical archives of the county of Somerset based at Taunton, a town about 10 miles from Over Stowey, we discovered …to our enormous excitement…that the privately-owned diaries of William Holland had been recently tracked down and purchased by the Somerset Heritage Centre,” says Lesley.
“Holland was vicar of Over Stowey in the Quantock Hills of northwest Somerset,” says Roy. “This is now a popular leisure destination because it is still very rural and somewhat remote, which is probably why Holland has been dismissed as only a minor source of information. Like the Austens, Holland and his family traveled to several places across southern England, including Bath and London, and he has left us information on all kinds of things, ranging from the local economy in rural Somerset to gossip in Bath and the new River Police Force in London. We even came across new evidence about Jane Austen’s aunt, the wealthy Mrs. Leigh-Perrot, who was tried in 1800 at the Assizes at Taunton for shoplifting in Bath. Through his connections, Holland found that she was certainly guilty, even though the jury cleared her of the offense. Of course, Jane Austen was not then a famous author, so he had no idea who he was writing about in his diary.”
The Adkins have written eighteen books, available in sixteen languages. The Keys of Egypt was recently published in Taiwan in Chinese. Originally archaeologists, the first book the Adkins wrote was The Handbook of British Archaeology, which is still in print. Besides books, the couple write articles for academic journals, magazines, newspapers and online. They publish their own e-newsletter about four times a year, available for free to anyone who signs up at their website at www.adkinshistory.com.
The Adkins live in Devon. Lesley was born in Sussex, Roy in Berkshire. “My entire childhood was in Hampshire, Jane Austen’s own county, where she lived most of her life and did much of her writing,” says Roy. “The county has the village of Steventon where she was born, Southampton where she lived for a while, Chawton where she spent the last years of her life, and Winchester where she died and is buried within the cathedral.”
Jane Austen’s England by Roy and Lesley Adkins Hardcover: 448 pages, Publisher: Viking Adult (August 15, 2013), Language: English, ISBN: 9780670785841 $27.95 Also available as an ebook
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