Jane Austen

In a time of formal dances, courtyard courtships, and strict ideas about a woman's role in the world, Jane Austen looked at the England around her and created unforgettable art. Before she was the beloved author of Pride and Prejudice and other classic novels, Jane Austen was a young woman wrestling with society's expectations and challenges of the heart. Her own story involves choices that changed literary history—and perhaps even the choice to walk away from love. This graphic imagining of Jane Austen's youth includes her creative awakening and her much-speculated-upon encounters with Tom Lefroy, a brash law student. Jane Austen: Her Heart Did Whisper is a vision of the thrills and pains of young romance, the bonds of sisterhood, and the decisions that make a person who she is.

“"This graphic novel reimagining of Jane Austen's defining romance will thrill her fans, especially those who enjoyed the film Becoming Jane, which starred Anne Hathaway. The work opens in 1817, with Austen's health failing, as she attempts to write to her sister Cassandra. In that letter, the lines between truth and fiction blur as she recalls her brief but passionate romance with Tom Lefroy, an Irish student of the law, which might have inspired her well-known Pride and Prejudice. In the first-person narration, Jane remembers her struggles with the 'womanly' arts of embroidering and piano playing but revels in her love of jotting down observations of the daily goings-on of their small neighborhood. The teen's passion for writing grows but is called into question when the worldly Lefroy challenges her. The two quickly go from verbal sparring partners to a young couple in love. But with no money between them, their hopes of a lifelong match are dashed. Santoni's black-and-white illustrations present a dreamy fictionalized rendering of the celebrated author's life, from her exuberant youth to her burgeoning career. Her bold black lines bring drama to the fluid, sketchy art. The images vary from multiple sequential panels to full-page, expressive close-ups, adding to the sweeping feel of the tale. The volume includes a thorough time line and a long essay from Austen scholar Mara Barbuni about the Regency-era author's background and influence. VERDICT This graphic novel is more suitable for leisurely reading than research, but Austen fans won't mind. A good choice where Janeites are plentiful."--School Library Journal”

"An engaging, creative addition to Austen's many biographies."—Booklist

Manuela Santoni is an illustrator and a cartoonist living in Fonte Nuova in Rome, Italy. Passionate about graphic novels and comics, Santoni works as a freelancer, creates books for children, and publishes her online comic Nowhere Fast at Verticomics. Manuela Santoni is an illustrator and a cartoonist living in Fonte Nuova in Rome, Italy. Passionate about graphic novels and comics, Santoni works as a freelancer, creates books for children, and publishes her online comic Nowhere Fast at Verticomics.

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