Jane Austen is a beloved writer and we adore her for her lively novels. Her books trace the beautiful father-daughter relation, the concept of love and marriage in those times and the daily life in the 18th century England. She made it so interesting and funny that her novels are considered a classic today. Her writings are women centric and her heroines speak their mind fearlessly, which is pretty badass even today!
2017 marks 200 years of Jane Austen’s death and this new information about our favourite author’s life will make us love her even more!
In this revelation, we get to see Jane Austen’s playful side. She faked her marriage! And that too, TWICE! Now, isn’t that really naughty?
You ask how did she do it? Well, here’s how… Jane’s father was a pastor of the parish and he had access to the record books. She made fake entries in the record books by linking herself to two separate men named- Henry Frederic Howard Fitzwilliam of London and Edmund Arthur William Mortimer of Liverpool. But the existence of these people is not known!
According to BBC.com, Andrew Gibson, a spokesperson of Hampshire County Council’s culture,
“In the year when we celebrate 200 years since her death, this unique document uncovers another side to Jane Austen’s character… Jane would have been in her teens when she wrote these fake marriage entries, and some could say it reveals a mischievous side during her younger years.”
These documents would be a part of the ‘Mysterious Miss Austen’ exhibition which is to be held at Winchester’s Discovery Centre in May this year.
FYI, Jane Austen remained single all her life! Ironic isn’t it? She wrote about love and marriage but didn’t get married. Maybe she didn’t find her Mr. Darcy. But coming back to the point, I am definitely loving this mischievous side of Janes’s personality to the core!