#BookReview: A Visitor's Guide To Jane Austen's England by Sue Wilkes

Synopsis: Discover Jane Austen’s England 

Immerse yourself in the vanished world inhabited by Austen’s contemporaries. Packed with detail, and anecdotes, this is an intimate exploration of how the middle and upper classes lived from 1775, the year of Austen’s birth, to the coronation of George IV in 1820. Sue Wilkes skilfully conjures up all aspects of daily life within the period, drawing on contemporary diaries, illustrations, letters, novels, travel literature and archives. 

•Were all unmarried affluent men really 'in want of a wife'?
•Where would a young lady seek adventures?
•Would ‘taking the waters’ at Bath and other spas kill or cure you?
•Was Lizzy Bennet bitten by bed-bugs while travelling?
•What would you wear to a country ball, or a dance at Almack’s?
•Would Mr Darcy have worn a corset?
•What hidden horrors lurked in elegant Regency houses?

Put on your dancing gloves and embrace a lost era of corsets and courtship!



Goodreads | Amazon

Rating: 5 Stars
My Review: This is such a charming book. I've always been drawn to England and this time period and found this book fascinating.  It was such a fun way to learn about the etiquette expected of the upper and middle class societies.  I loved that it is set up as more of a guide book rather than a stuffy text book. It had the same feel that the new Netflix show Bridgerton has as far as narration.  I also enjoyed the drawings at the end and loved how the cover looks like something you'd see in that time period.  

Review

"This is an ingenious volume. The author, who has written extensively on social history and on genealogy, provides us with a detailed guide book to the habits, facilities, sights and values of Southern England in the early 19th century. Her walk-through of the territory is attractively supported by extensive quotations from the works of Jane Austen herself and from contemporaries. The text is lively and well arranged and the anecdotes relevant and illuminating. This is a book which Janites will enjoy and which will provide an informative context to the novels."
Federation of Family History Societies 

"This guide for visitors is an excellent guide for readers of Jane Austen's novels as well. The abundance of information about everyday living adds an extra dimension of familiarity to the conduct and relationships of the characters. This book is a worthy contribution to the field of Austen social history and uses the mundane realities of life to illuminate the reader's experience."
Sensibilities

About the Author

Sue Wilkes is an established expert on regional, local and industrial history, and she is a well-known family historian. In addition to contributing many articles to history and family history magazines, including Who Do You Think You Are? and Family Tree. She is the author of Regency Spies, A Visitors Guide To Jane Austen's England, The Children History Forgot, Narrow Windows, Narrow Lives, Regency Cheshire, Tracing Your Canal Ancestors, Tracing Your Lancashire Ancestors and Tracing Your Ancestors' Childhood.

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Posted in: 5 Stars, Adult, HeatherR, Non Fiction, Review