A YEAR IN JANE AUSTEN'S WORLD: AN INTERVIEW WITH SOPHIE REYNOLDS OF THE JANE AUSTEN'S HOUSE

2025 marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth—a milestone that invites us to reflect on her enduring legacy and the world that shaped her genius. As we celebrate this special year, a stunning new book offers a fresh and intimate perspective on Austen’s life. A Jane Austen Year takes us on a journey through the seasons, weaving together letters, objects, and manuscripts from Jane Austen’s House—the beloved Hampshire cottage where she lived and wrote some of her most cherished novels.

I’m delighted to welcome Sophie Reynolds, the curator of Jane Austen’s House, and the mind behind this beautifully illustrated volume, to My Jane Austen Book Club. In our conversation, we discuss the treasures of Austen’s home, the inspiration behind the book’s unique structure, and the remarkable moments that shaped the author’s life. Join us as we step into Austen’s world, one season at a time, in this very special anniversary year.

The book is arranged over the course of a calendar year. What inspired this unique structure, and how do the changing seasons reflect different aspects of Austen’s life and work?

We started discussing the idea for a beautiful coffee table book right back in 2022. We wanted to make something that celebrated the House itself and the collection – something that only we could make. The idea to base it around the seasons came from discussions about calendars and Regency almanacks. I started thinking about Jane Austen’s novels in a new way – noticing how good Jane Austen is at establishing the timeframe of her novels and at pinpointing different scenes quite precisely to specific months. The obvious one is Mr Darcy’s first proposal to Elizabeth, which takes place in April, but there are many more – such as Fanny Price walking on the Ramparts in Portsmouth in March, and Anne Elliot going out walking with the Musgrove girls on ‘a fine day in November’. If you pull out those parts of the novels and read them at the same time of year that they are set, you start to notice new things about them – the seasonality comes to the fore. You become more aware of the weather and physicality of the countryside. Spring flowers, rainy pavements, cold hands – they are all the more present and tangible when we can glance up from the book and see the same thing. 

Spring at Jane Austen House - photo by Luke Shears

Then there are key events in Jane Austen’s life that we remember as anniversaries – such as Pride and Prejudice Day in January, her birthday in December and her death day in July. I also wanted to include historical events that shaped Jane’s world, such as the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars – and to bring it right up to the present day, with the calendar of the House now that it is a museum. I got completely carried away and made so many lists of extracts and events and ideas for the different months – far more than made it into the final book!

Your book offers an intimate glimpse into Jane Austen’s life through objects, letters, and manuscripts. What was the most surprising or moving discovery you made while working on this project?

Part of my job at Jane Austen’s House is to look after the collection. I love uncovering stories related to the objects we hold and finding ways to share them with our audience. Often an object will reveal an extraordinary story that you would never suspect at first glance. One of my favourite objects in the collection is a portrait miniature of Philadelphia Hancock – Jane Austen’s aunt. It’s a beautiful object in its own right and holds many stories – not least that it was bequeathed by Philadelphia’s husband to their daughter Eliza, with the wish that she would never part with it. It was originally set in a ring (it really is that small!) but Eliza had it set as a broach. It is surrounded by diamonds and is completely beautiful, so I’m sure she loved wearing it – she was very glamorous!

Philadelphia Hancock miniature - photo by Luke Shears

When Eliza died, the miniature stayed in the family and was passed down the female line until 1950, when the owner felt that her own children had no interest in it and sold it. It was then bought in a shop on Bond Street by Mr Carpenter – the founder of Jane Austen’s House. He wrote to the previous owner to find out more about it and she was so delighted to hear where it had gone that she refunded the money he had spent buying it and became a lifelong friend of the House. Mr Carpenter made a speech about it to the Jane Austen Society and called her ‘our greatest benefactress’ – which always makes me think of Lady Catherine de Bourgh!

Jane Austen’s House holds an incredible collection of personal treasures. Is there a particular item in the collection that you feel best captures Austen’s personality or creative spirit?

Virginia Woolf said of Jane Austen that ‘of all great writers, she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness’ – and I think the same applies here. There are many objects in the collection that give us little clues about her, but nothing that really sums her up. We have a lock of her hair, which is a literal relic. We have her tiny writing table, which speaks volumes about how she wrote, her determination, privacy, modesty, and perseverance. Then there are the topaz crosses belonging to Jane and Cassandra, that they treasured and wore and that Jane then wrote into Mansfield Park. Her beautifully handwritten music books, showing her neatness, precision, creativity and skill. Her letters, overflowing with her spirit, her wit, her love of gossip and chat and her love for her family.

 

Topaz crosses - photo by Luke Shears

We have lots of pictures of her family and people she knew and loved, and one of the most precious, I think, is a sketch that Cassandra made of their niece, Fanny Knight, as a teenager. She is seated at a table wearing a white muslin dress and is also painting a picture, using watercolours. Fanny is the picture of a quintessential Austen heroine, in her white dress, very demure, but also perhaps a little careless. You don’t get the impression she is very dedicated to her picture. She reminds me of Catherine Morland, in Northanger Abbey – easily distracted, would rather be reading a novel. I think Jane really understood people like that, she saw them for what they were – with a kindly, loving eye, but nevertheless she understood their real natures and it is that skill of really seeing and understanding human nature that makes her novels and her characters so wonderful and so timeless.

The book features beautifully commissioned photography of Austen’s home and possessions. How did you approach selecting and presenting these images to bring her world to life for modern readers?

This was so much fun. We are lucky enough to work with a really brilliant local photographer, Luke Shears, who brings a lot of creativity and skill to his job. We worked together on the photos for this book really closely – trying to capture images that felt like you were catching sight of something for the first time, or that you were being let into a secret moment at the House.

 For me I think a lot of it is about lighting. The House is so beautiful in its stillness, and you don’t always get to catch that as a visitor, but you can in photos, where a beam of light falls across the floor, or an object gleams from the shadows.

 

Marianne Knight's satin dancing slippers - photo by Luke Shears

Choosing the objects came from the seasons – I wanted to place objects at times of year that felt right, or that had specific stories that linked them to a particular month. So Marianne Knight’s satin dancing slippers are in November, alongside the Netherfield Ball, and the handkerchief Jane embroidered for Cassandra is in August because Jane wrote a little note in verse about another gift of handkerchiefs to her friend Alethea Bigg in that month. We tried to set up the objects for photography in naturalistic ways, that brought life and movement to the image, using the House itself as the stage. It’s almost the opposite to most museum photography – we wanted to give them impression that objects were in use – that those dancing slippers had just been kicked off!

Austen’s letters are such a vital window into her thoughts and relationships. Was there a specific letter that stood out to you as particularly revealing or poignant?

I love Jane Austen’s letters – they are so funny and clear and astringent, and they give you such an amazing sense of her personality. One of my favourites in the book is a letter that Jane wrote to her niece Caroline in March 1816. Caroline was only 10 years old at the time and was rather a shy, bookish child. Jane’s letter to her is chatty and kind, interested in her opinions on the books she has been reading, and sharing family news – it must have brought Caroline huge pleasure at being written to like that – like a proper grown up!

You highlight Austen’s first time reading Pride and Prejudice aloud from a published copy. What do we know about that moment, and how do you think she felt seeing her work in print?

The story of Jane and her mother reading ‘half the first volume’ of Pride and Prejudice aloud to their neighbour Miss Benn on ‘the very day of the Books coming’ is probably my favourite story about the House. It’s just so extraordinary to imagine that event taking place right here, in the Drawing Room – it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it!

The drawing room 

Who can imagine how Jane would have felt that evening – a swirling mixture or pride, anxiety, happiness, mischievousness and glee, I would imagine – the pride of a hugely ambitious artist who knows their own worth and is finally being recognised for it, but at the same time someone who is very private and is sharing their work publicly, and who hasn’t told the person they are reading to that she is the author of the novel they are reading..!

If you could step back in time and observe Austen at work in her cottage, what moment in her daily life would you most love to witness?

You know, I love the myth of Austen. I love that she lived 200 years ago and that there are things about her life and her writings that we will never know. I don’t think I’d want to go back in time to meet her, or watch her at work – that would inevitably result in seeing her as a normal person with flaws and vices, whereas I prefer to keep her as a mystery, rather unknowable – a human being but a genius, like no other writer before or since… 

Jane Austen's writing table - photo by Luke Shears

8.    The museum has welcomed visitors for decades, and I was lucky to be one of them in 2011. I still remember how emotional I was—it was an unforgettable experience! How do you see the museum’s role evolving in the digital age and how do you balance preserving Austen’s legacy with engaging new audiences?

 Jane Austen’s House has now been open to the public for 75 years and in that time it has evolved so much – today the House is in better condition than ever, the collection has grown and is more accessible, the experience of visiting the House is more atmospheric and we have the resources to offer special experiences – tours, object sessions, and evening views. The support of our wonderful visitors makes all that possible!

 

Virtual tour of Jane Austen's House

In 2020, when the covid pandemic forced us (along with all other museums in the country) to close to visitors, we created a virtual tour of the House which enabled us to offer virtual events for the first time. Honestly, we’ve never looked back – we run regular virtual tours and talks which are attended by people all over the world, many of whom will never make it to visit in person. We also run an annual Virtual Birthday Party for Jane Austen on 16 December, which has quickly grown into a hugely loved and popular annual tradition!

This year we’ll be updating the virtual tour so that it reflects as far as possible the changes that we’ve made to the interior of the House – including the creation of our new exhibition Jane Austen and the Art of Writing, and a temporary exhibition space downstairs. Obviously exploring the House virtually isn’t the same as visiting it in person, but it’s pretty good!