Love and Marriage in the Age of Jane Austen

“Muir’s well-informed, entertaining book surveys romantic love and marriage among the real-life counterparts of Austen’s characters in an England threatened with invasion and agitated by calls for political reform.”—Jenny McAuley, Financial Times “Digs wide and deep into the historical record to provide a documentary account of what falling in love and living happily ever after really involved in late Georgian England.”—Kathryn Hughes, Sunday Times “[Muir] draws on fiction, diaries, letters, biographies and the work of social historians to present a panorama of experiences of love and marriage in gentry and aristocratic circles.”—Norma Clarke, Times Literary Supplement “A delightful new book. . . . Animated by much original reading, here we see a colourful age in great colour.”—Unseen Histories “The stories are compelling, and a liberal sprinkling of contemporary quotations makes this an absorbing read for anyone with an affection for the age.”—Felicity Day, Who Do You Think You Are? “Muir evokes the romantic life of Regency Britain in all its variety, from flirtations and honeymoons to children and divorce.”—Andrea Valentino, The Critic “There was more happiness in the married state among Jane Austen's contemporaries than you might think . . . a serious and worthwhile study.”—Maggie Lane, Jane Austen Society Newsletter “Rory Muir’s comprehensive, elegant, and incisive book will delight readers by shedding new light on a subject that we thought we knew everything about, but didn’t.”—Paula Byrne, author of The Real Jane Austen “An insightful exploration of Regency hearts and their entanglements. Muir’s elegant yet compassionate history vividly reveals the realities of love and marriage, along a spectrum from difficulty to delight.”—Hilary Davidson, author of Jane Austen’s Wardrobe