PRIZES to win! PROMOTIONS
Helena Kelly holds a doctorate in English Literature from Oxford, where she has also taught from time to time and where she is about to return for a visiting scholarship at the Oxford Centre for Life Writing at Wolfson College. She is the author of The Life and Lies of Charles Dickens (November 2023), already praised by Kirkus Reviews as 'a literary bio that deftly untangles truth from untruth', and of Jane Austen, the Secret Radical (2016), hailed as 'a sublime piece of literary detective work' (The Observer) and 'an interpretive coup that is dazzling and dizzying' (The New Yorker).
“Kelly brilliantly reconstructs the tumultuous world that influenced Jane Austen's writing, offering readers a fresh and illuminating perspective that even those of us with a familial connection find revelatory.” Carole Jane Knight, Last of Jane’s Nieces from Chawton House Coming this September 23rd from @msashtondennis and the perfect accompaniment to the big #JaneAusten250anniversary year. Bursting with stunning illustrations. Rich with family and social history. #Janeites will eat this one up! Helena Kelly’s The Worlds of Jane Austen gifts readers and Janeites alike with a look into the turbulent social, economic, and cultural influences on the novels of Austen—and her increasing influence on us in turn. In a world today that cannot tire of her famous stories, Kelly brings to her own work here a wonderful vivacity, energy, and acuity that calls to mind that of Austen herself. This is a wonderfully conceived and accessible account full of new information and enticing conjecture, over 150 expertly selected photographs and pictures, and illustrations to accompany the text which capture its joie de vivre perfectly. I inhaled this book and its treasure trove of information and insight, and highly recommend it to any reader not yet ready to leave the world of Austen’s novels and inevitably wanting more. Natalie Jenner, Author of The Jane Austen Society and Austen at Sea
