Helena Kelly holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford, where she has taught classics and English Literature. Brought up in Kent, she now lives in Oxford with her husband and son. She is also the author of Jane Austen, the Secret Radical and The Life and Lies of Charles Dickens.
What this radical re-reading ... does so brilliantly is to exhort us all to chuck out the chintz, and the teacups, and all the traditional romantic notions about Austen's work that have been fed to us for so long ... However well you think you know the novels, you'll be raring to read them again once you've read this. -- Caroline Sanderson * The Bookseller * A sublime piece of literary detective work that shows us once and for all how to be precisely the sort of reader that Austen deserves. * The Observer * An addictive debut. * Stylist * You'll definitely see Austen's works differently from now on. * Nottingham Post * It encapsulates smartly much that a frequently chintzy Austen industry would prefer to overlook. * The Irish Times * Jane Austen: the Secret Radical is wonderful; a revelation. It's difficult to stand out from the crowd when writing about such an influential figure, but Helena Kelly has certainly achieved that with this smart, knowing, perceptive book. -- Amanda Foreman * author of World on Fire *