This volume sets out to illustrate in both words and pictures the physical world of the late-18th and early-19th centuries, as alluded to by Austen, so that readers can enjoy her novels with greater understanding and insight. Deidre Le Faye goes beyond the Hollywood fiction to explore the real physical and social environment that formed the backdrop to Austen's classics. Assisted by contemporary archive material, the author revisits the places familiar to Jane Austen in her lifetime, from the grand country houses to humble villager's cottages, from detailed information on the furnishings to the arrangements for the servants.