Examining letter collections published in the second half of the nineteenth century, Catherine Delafield rereads the life-writing of Frances Burney, Charlotte Brontë, Mary Delany, Catherine Winkworth, Jane Austen and George Eliot, situating these women in their epistolary culture and in relation to one another as exemplary women of the period. She traces the role of their editors in the publishing process and considers how a model of representation in letters emerged from the publication of Burney’s Diary and Letters and Elizabeth Gaskell’s Life of Brontë. Delafield contends that new correspondences emerge between editors/biographers and their biographical subjects, and that the original epistolary pact was remade in collaboration with family memorials in private and with reviewers in public. Women’s Letters as Life Writing addresses issues of survival and choice when an archive passes into family hands, tracing the means by which women’s lives came to be written and rewritten in letters in the nineteenth century.

“Wilkes makes the world of Jane Austen come to life . . . from travel to fashion, shopping, leisure, and, of course, finding a mate” (Britain Express). 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 skillfully 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 adventure? Would “taking the waters” at Bath and other spas kill or cure you? Was Lizzy Bennet bitten by bed-bugs while traveling? 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? “A delight. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that paints such a vivid picture of daily life in late 18th and early 19th century England. It makes a perfect companion for Austen’s beloved novels.” —The Heritage Traveller “A thoroughly engaging—and very informative—‘eyewitness’ guide to everything from medical matters to modes of travel.” —Joceline Bury, Jane Austen’s Regency World “Written as if to a first-time traveler in the Regency . . . an inviting read . . . a perfect gift for every Janeite friend and family member.” —Austenprose “A worthy contribution to the field of Austen social history and uses the mundane realities of life to illuminate the reader’s experience.” —Sensibilities