Jane Austen had a Life! is the first complete guide to her Juvenilia, the Novels, Tales, Letters, short plays and a poem that Jane Austen wrote between the age of twelve and seventeen, and kept, recorded in three small exercise books.

Like any teenager, Jane reveals her emotions, her likes and dislikes. She describes her adventures, her observations of London, her rambles in Scotland. She wrote about difficult parents and overbearing adults, about young women taking the initiative in love and life, about family secrets and the busybodies who gossip about them; about love, loss and regret.

Jane Austen had a Life! is a book for all lovers of Jane Austen, for students of her writing, their teachers and tutors. It contains a chapter on each of the thirty-one pieces in her Juvenilia, and a guide to their major themes. Discover the young Jane Austen, the characters she created to illustrate her world, her feelings and her aspirations for the future.