Summary of Paula Byrne's The Real Jane Austen

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 The family profile is a portrait that shows the father, George Austen, the adoptive mother, Catherine Knight, and the boy Edward, who was adopted by the couple in 1783. It was commissioned by Thomas Knight, a wealthy but childless gentleman from Kent, to commemorate his formal adoption of his nephew Edward Austen. #2 The practice of adoption was not uncommon in the Georgian era, when the preservation of large