The Jane Austen’s House Museum is located in the last residence of the renowned writer and where she worked on her novels. Jane Austen (1775-1817) was born in Steventon, Hampshire. Her writing talent was recognized at an early age, and with her father’s encouragement, she explored different genres before the age of 12. By 19, she wrote her first mature work, the epistolary novella Lady Susan (later published as Northanger Abbey). She wrote two more novels over the next seven years but didn’t publish them. In 1801, Austen moved with her family to Bath, and during the following decade, her productivity decreased. After her father died, she, her sister, mother, and their friend Martha Lloyd moved to Chawton Cottage, near her brother’s house, in 1809. There, she had both the surroundings and mindset that allowed her creativity to flourish. Over the next eight years, Austen revisited her early drafts, wrote new novels, and published four of her books – Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815). Austen died when she was only 41 years old, before publishing her last complete novel, Persuasion (published postmortem in 1818), and before completing the novel she was working on at the time, Sanditon. Austen’s literary works, even the unfinished ones, received widespread acclaim and have been adapted into countless movies, television shows, and plays. After her death, Austen’s mother and sister stayed in Chawton Cottage. Later, it was divided into small laborers’ apartments before it became a workman’s club in the early 1920s. In 1940, the Jane Austen Society received the cottage and turned it into a museum dedicated to the life and work of the famous author. Opened to the public in 1947, the Jane Austen’s House Museum hosts a collection of Austen’s personal items, including jewelry, letters, original furniture, her writing table, and the first editions of her novels. The museum also has temporary exhibitions which follow the Regency era and different aspects of Austen’s work, influences, and inspirations. Other Hampshire sites associated with Austen are the Jane Austen Statue in Basingstoke and her final resting place in Winchester Cathedral. Read more...