My Dear Cassandra: Selections from the Letters of Jane ... (ISBN 1855850044)

A lovely introduction to Jane Austen and her times - vibrant, colourful:
It is a shame that this book is not more readily available as it is lovely, these are the illustrated letters of Jane Autsen and it is a wonderful introduction, not just to her wit and style, but to the colourful times she lived in and to her family and background I was impressed with Hughes-Hallet text which helped put the letters into context, but I was mostly really thrilled about the the pictures chosen and the overall layout. The book is in landscape format with the text in the middle of the page and illustrations on the outside of the pages. They are therefore both part of the text but illustrations in their own right and fit seamlessly in with the whole. There are colourful choices of illustrations both from the period and selected from the family. So it is nice to thumb through just for the pictures, which are well captioned too and give a sense of the period at a glance Each chapter is well defined with an overall chapter heading such as "A New and Settled Home" with a subtitle Chawton 1809-1813 - it really helps to define the period and the possible mind-set for Austen herself The letters are printed in full with explanations and chapter summaries as well. A great idea as Cassandra destroyed many if not most of Austen's letters on Jane's on her death - leaving a small selection to go on for later scholars and fans. This format allows a nice expansion of the small resource available to show Austen's times rather than attempting simply to analyse her thinking. Overall I found this book to be a great read, and a good book for a browse through as well. It is less scholarly than Claire Tomalins collected letters of Austen, but a fantastic collection to have on a different level. I will definitely be lookin gout for more of Hughes-Hallet's works and would highly recommend it to others as well.