Ebook: What matters in Jane Austen?: twenty crucial puzzles solved

How much does age matter? -- Do sisters sleep together? -- What do the characters call each other? -- How do Jane Austen's characters look? -- Who dies in the course of her novels? -- Why is it risky to go to the seaside? -- Why is the weather important? -- Do we ever see the lower classes? -- Which important characters never speak in the novels? -- What games do characters play? -- Is there any sex in Jane Austen? -- What do characters say when the heroine is not there? -- How much money is enough? -- Why do her plots rely on blunders? -- What do characters read? -- Are ill people really to blame for their illnesses? -- What makes characters blush? -- What are the right and wrong ways to propose marriage? -- When does Jane Austen speak directly to the reader? -- How experimental a novelist is Jane Austen?;A literary scholar poses twenty questions that reveal deep truths about the iconic writer and her lasting influence, demonstrating how Austen's genius can be better appreciated with an understanding of her books' character dynamics, unspoken sexuality, and period conventions.