Coolsisters of the Month

''Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure.'' Jane Austen

What (little) we know of Jane Austen’s private life is due to family letters – many written to her only sister, Cassandra Elizabeth (1773–1845), who like Jane, died unmarried. Jane (on the left) and Cassandra were schooled together and among Jane’s earliest work is her parody, The History of England, a manuscript of 34 pages accompanied by 13 water colour miniatures by Cassandra. Jane and Cassandra spent many years together at Chawton cottage where Jane published four novels, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma. Cassandra and Jane frequently visited their brothers and their families, and other relatives, and wrote to each other when apart. Sadly,it is estimated that that only 160 out of Austen's 3,000 letters survive, as Cassandra burned "the greater part" of the ones she kept and censored those she did not destroy (others were destroyed by heirs). Happily, since 1833, when the first collected edition of Austen's works was published, her novels have been continuously in print.