
Jane Austen's Bookshelf
A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend
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Narrated by:
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Rebecca Romney
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By:
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Rebecca Romney
About this listen
From rare book dealer and guest star of the hit show Pawn Stars, an enthralling literary adventure that introduces listeners to the women writers who inspired Jane Austen—and investigates why their books have disappeared from our shelves.
Long before she was a rare book dealer, Rebecca Romney was a devoted reader of Jane Austen. She loved that Austen’s books took the lives of women seriously, explored relationships with wit and confidence, and always, allowed for the possibility of a happy ending. She read and reread them, often wishing Austen wrote just one more.
But Austen wasn’t a lone genius. She wrote at a time of great experimentation for women writers—and clues about those women, and the exceptional books they wrote, are sprinkled like breadcrumbs throughout Austen’s work. Every character in Northanger Abbey who isn’t a boor sings the praises of Ann Radcliffe. The play that causes such a stir in Mansfield Park is a real one by the playwright Elizabeth Inchbald. In fact, the phrase “pride and prejudice” came from Frances Burney’s second novel Cecilia. The women that populated Jane Austen’s bookshelf profoundly influenced her work; Austen looked up to them, passionately discussed their books with her friends, and used an appreciation of their books as a litmus test for whether someone had good taste. So where had these women gone? Why hadn’t Romney—despite her training—ever read them? Or, in some cases, even heard of them? And why were they no longer embraced as part of the wider literary canon?
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf investigates the disappearance of Austen’s heroes—women writers who were erased from the Western canon—to reveal who they were, what they meant to Austen, and how they were forgotten. Each chapter profiles a different writer including Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Charlotte Smith, Hannah More, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth—and recounts Romney’s experience reading them, finding rare copies of their works, and drawing on connections between their words and Austen’s. Romney collects the once-famed works of these forgotten writers, physically recreating Austen’s bookshelf and making a convincing case for why these books should be placed back on the to-be-read pile of all book lovers today. Jane Austen’s Bookshelf will encourage you to look beyond assigned reading lists, question who decides what belongs there, and build your very own collection of favorite novels.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2025 Rebecca Romney (P)2025 Simon & Schuster AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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By: Charlotte Lennox
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The Real Jane Austen
- A Life in Small Things
- By: Paula Byrne
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things offers a startlingly original look at the revered writer through a variety of key moments, scenes, and objects in her life and work. Going beyond previous traditional biographies which have traced Austen's daily life from Steventon to Bath to Chawton to Winchester, Paula Byrne's portrait - organized thematically and drawn from the most up-to-date scholarship and unexplored sources - explores the lives of Austen's extended family, friends, and acquaintances.
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I keep re-listening to it!
- By Frances K. Harville on 06-10-20
By: Paula Byrne
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A Simple Story
- By: Elizabeth Inchbald
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Published in 1791, A Simple Story concerns Miss Milner, who announces her passion for her guardian, a Catholic priest, thereby breaking through the barriers of his religious vocation and society’s standards for proper female behaviour.
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Exciting and Dramatic
- By Chocola on 08-15-22
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Camilla
- A Picture of Youth
- By: Fanny Burney
- Narrated by: Lucy Scott
- Length: 37 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Among Jane Austen's favorite novels, and a key work in the rise of Romanticism, Camilla follows the story of three young women, from childhood to young adulthood, and their pursuit of matrimony. Kind but naive Camilla is in love with Edgar Mandlebert, a handsome and noble young man. Intelligent Eugenia, destined to inherit her uncle's great wealth, is plagued with misfortune as she is left disfigured by smallpox and has men court her for financial gain only. Meanwhile their cousin, beautiful but selfish Indiana, never finds a fortune for her good looks.
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Perfection!
- By Jen42 on 11-19-20
By: Fanny Burney
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Jane Austen at Home
- A Biography
- By: Lucy Worsley
- Narrated by: Ruth Redman
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Take a trip back to Jane Austen's world and the many places she lived as historian Lucy Worsley visits Austen's childhood home, her schools, her holiday accommodations, the houses - both grand and small - of the relations upon whom she was dependent, and the home she shared with her mother and sister towards the end of her life.
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As a Devoted Janeite - I loved this book!
- By Dorothy on 07-17-17
By: Lucy Worsley
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Jane's Fame
- How Jane Austen Conquered the World
- By: Claire Harman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Almost 200 years after her death, Austen remains a hot topic, and the current flare in the cultural zeitgeist echoes the continuous revival of her works, from the time of original publication through the 20th century. In Jane's Fame, Claire Harman gives us the complete biography of the author and analyzes her lasting cultural influence, making this essential listening for anyone interested in Austen's life, works, and remarkably potent fame.
By: Claire Harman
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What Matters in Jane Austen
- Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved
- By: John Mullan
- Narrated by: Paul Collins
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In What Matters in Jane Austen?, John Mullan shows that we can best appreciate Austen's brilliance by looking at the intriguing quirks and intricacies of her fiction. Asking and answering some very specific questions about what goes on in her novels, he reveals the inner workings of their greatness. In 20 short chapters, each of which explores a question prompted by Austen’s novels, Mullan illuminates the themes that matter most in her beloved fiction.
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Intriguing details and background
- By Barbara JA on 11-12-13
By: John Mullan
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Evelina
- By: Frances Burney
- Narrated by: Dame Judi Dench, Finty Williams, Geoffrey Palmer
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Fanny Burney's wickedly funny satire follows the trials and romantic adventures of the young and beautiful Evelina as she tries to make her way through 18th-century Britain handicapped by her three great problems: being poor, being illegitimate - and being a girl. Evelina was a raging best seller when it was first published in 1778 and is widely credited with being the first of the great British domestic novels. Burney was a direct influence on her immediate follower, Jane Austen.
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Get This Version!
- By Johanna on 01-10-16
By: Frances Burney
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Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Emilia Fox
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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These three short works show Austen experimenting with a variety of different literary styles, from melodrama to satire, and exploring a range of social classes and settings. The early epistolary novel Lady Susan depicts an unscrupulous coquette toying with the affections of several men. In contrast, The Watsons is a delightful fragment whose spirited heroine, Emma Watson, finds her marriage opportunities limited by poverty and pride....
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Too bad we will never know the full story of Sandi
- By Anonymous User on 04-05-23
By: Jane Austen
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The Mysteries of Udolpho
- By: Ann Radcliffe
- Narrated by: Jason Smith
- Length: 29 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe is a quintessential Gothic novel that combines romance, mystery, and horror, set against the backdrop of the picturesque but menacing landscapes of the Apennines. The story follows the fortunes of Emily St. Aubert, who suffers misadventures that include the death of her father, supernatural terrors in a gloomy castle, and machinations of an Italian brigand. This novel is celebrated for its elaborate descriptions of nature, its exploration of the sublime and the terrifying, and its influence on later Gothic literature.
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Audio format is embarrassingly poorly done
- By Don B Andrews on 02-28-25
By: Ann Radcliffe
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The Female Quixote
- By: Charlotte Lennox
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Young, wealthy Arabella is obsessed with French romances: brought up by a reclusive widowed father in an isolated castle, she has educated herself through their pages, and been led to believe that their dramas and absurdities are reality. She blindly adheres to their example and interprets her everyday life through their lens, thinking that life consists of uncontrollable passions and murderous violence, and that any man would die for her. Thus she embarks on a series of hilarious misadventures, insistent on the reality of her imaginary world, like Don Quixote before her.
By: Charlotte Lennox
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Godmersham Park
- A Novel of the Austen Family
- By: Gill Hornby
- Narrated by: Bessie Carter
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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On January 21, 1804, Anne Sharpe arrives at Godmersham Park in Kent to take up the position of governess. At thirty-one years old, she has no previous experience of either teaching or fine country houses. Her mother has died, and she has nowhere else to go. Anne is left with no choice. For her new charge—twelve-year-old Fanny Austen—Anne’s arrival is all novelty and excitement.
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Terrible disappointment
- By Mary Elizabeth Herr on 05-07-24
By: Gill Hornby
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Belinda
- By: Maria Edgeworth
- Narrated by: Lucy Scott
- Length: 18 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Published in 1801, Maria Edgeworth’s Belinda is an absorbing novel that mirrors social and domestic life among the English gentry. In her pursuit of a suitable marriage, Belinda encounters an array of characters including the dazzling socialite Lady Delacourt, the feminist Harriet Freke, the wealthy and handsome West Indian Mr Vincent and the impulsive Clarence Hervey.
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Editor Was Needed
- By DEJ on 06-18-24
By: Maria Edgeworth
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Love and Friendship (aka 'Love and Freindship')
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Joanna Daniell
- Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Jane Austen wrote Love and Friendship (originally spelled Love and Freindship [ sic]) when she was just 14 years old. The three notebooks that contain her early works, including this story, are currently on display at the Bodleian Library and the British Museum. Taking the form as letters written by the heroine to the daughter of her friend, this story resembles a fairy tale that lampoons the conventions of romantic stories at the time.
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Letter to make up a book
- By Jes_074 on 01-02-15
By: Jane Austen
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A Place of Our Own
- Six Spaces That Shaped Queer Women's Culture
- By: June Thomas
- Narrated by: June Thomas
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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For as long as queer women have existed, they’ve created gathering grounds where they can be themselves. From the intimate darkness of the lesbian bar to the sweaty camaraderie of the softball field, these spaces aren’t a luxury—they’re a necessity for queer women defining their identities. In A Place of Our Own, journalist June Thomas invites listeners into six iconic lesbian spaces over the course of the last sixty years, including the rural commune, the sex toy boutique, the vacation spot, and the feminist bookstore.
By: June Thomas
Thoughtful, illuminating, very enjoyable
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What a page turner!
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Such a great read for any bibliophile! I don’t believe you have to be a Janeite to enjoy this book. It reminded me of reading 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. I am so excited to look up the remaining books mentioned that I haven’t read.
If you enjoy the SHEDUNNIT podcast you’ll probably find all the information about these almost forgotten writers interesting and informative.
I like the way Rebecca tells us about her experiences looking for readable copies of these old books by authors many people don’t remember. She shares her knowledge on how to obtain copies. It feels like you’re reading letters from a friend telling you about their reading journey.
Like reading A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz. I found both books engrossing to read how these books they were so reluctant to read affected their actual perspectives.
This will be a useful book to reread and listen to on audiobook for Jane Austen July preparation’s. I had to re read it as soon as I was done like The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner. I love a book about books and about readers.
I was counting the days till Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney came out. I pre ordered it on audible and in hardback. It was worth the wait and very worth my time.
Happy reading and listening everyone!
Rebecca thank you for all your research and behind the scenes information about the world of book publishing and book collecting. I love seeing these women’s work being introduced to the reading public of today. I truly appreciate you sharing your wonderful creation with us.
Is you enjoy a Lucy Worsley book or deep dive documentary, you’ll love Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney.
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Now I Have to Buy More Books
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A fascinating perspective and approach to a subject few even know about.
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