Cassandra & Jane.(Brief article)(Book review)

Cassandra and Jane

Jill Pitkeathley. Harper, $13.95 paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-06-144639-9

Following Jane Austen's untimely death in 1817 at age 41, her "most beloved sister" destroyed most of their correspondence; in her first novel, House of Lords peer Pitkeathley attempts to fill in the gaps through the eyes of Cassandra, Jane's closest confidante and sharpest critic. Cassandra tells of the Austen family's precarious position on the lowest tier of Hampshire's aristocracy, Jane's early attempts at "scribbling" and the crushing romantic disappointments of the two. Throughout, Cassandra's detailed look at her …