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ABOUT THE BOOK
The orphaned Philadelphia Austen was forced to seek for herself those objects of eighteenth-century social esteem and financial independence. Her story is circumscribed by the limitations of women’s lives of that time and opens up a wider exploration of those times through a detailed examination of one particular Jane Austen’s aunt Philadelphia. The story of her aunt impressed the young Jane Austen when she created a character, Cecilia Wynne, in her short fiction, Catharine or the Bower, written when she was sixteen. Cecilia’s experience as an orphaned ‘girl of genius and feeling’ being ‘sent in quest of a husband to Bengal’, mirrored that of her recently deceased aunt. Such a connection between the author and aunt sparked an interest in an otherwise neglected member of the Austen clan. How did this aunt, who had provided inspiration for the young Jane, manage to make her way in the world? How did the course of her life reflect the lives of other women of her time? What worlds did she move in? What people did she meet? Little was known about Philadelphia, yet her daughter Eliza, was said to be a central figure in Jane Austen’s life. The conventional trajectory of Philadelphia was changed when, after completing a millinery apprenticeship in London, she took the chance of a journey to India and an arranged marriage. There she became part of the colorful world of the honorable East India Company and encountered many of its most notable people. Her life was transformed.
OPENING LINES On a February morning in 1752, twenty-three years before Jane Austen was born, her father’s sister Philadelphia, or ‘Phila’ as she was known in the family, left the southern English port of Deal in a small dinghy to go aboard the Bombay Castle, a stout East Indiaman anchored in the Downs.
REVIEW by Sophia Rose: My long love affair with Jane Austen’s works led to my curiosity about the author, including her family. In my earlier reading, I learned of her exciting cousin Eliza and Eliza's mother and Austen’s aunt, Philadelphia.
In Jane Austen’s Remarkable Aunt, Philadelphia Hancock, author Jan Merriman writes with admiration and excitement, revealing an out of the ordinary woman and where life took her after inauspicious beginnings. The memoir shows how Philadelphia fit into the broader Austen family ancestry and then how her life progressed after the deaths of her parents and separation from her younger brother and sister. Philadelphia, destined for a more obscure life in London, training with millinery, took opportunity when it came and rose far above the life of a shopgirl.
I was all anticipation to read of her time in India when she was closely acquainted with Warren Hastings, rumored later to be the real father of her daughter, Eliza. I appreciated the detail Merriman writes of life in Colonial India and what it would have been like for an English woman in Phila’s position as wife to a busy man, isolated and far from her homeland.
Jane Austen’s Remarkable Aunt, Philadelphia Hancock, like other Austen-related biographies, relies a great deal on speculation and educated guesswork, coupled with family letters, particularly Eliza’s, and news accounts according to the period and her acquaintance. Merriman makes connections to Jane Austen’s novels and how Jane’s writings were influenced by her aunt and cousin in stories such as Catherine or the Bower. A good deal of handy footnotes and bibliography show Merriman’s prodigious research.
All in all, an insightful and engaging biography, full of heart, coloring the fascinating life of Jane Austen's aunt.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jan Merriman is a retired teacher and graduate of The University of Sydney and Macquarie University in Australia, majoring in English Literature and Linguistics. Long devoted to Jane Austen, she has pursued her interest through research into many aspects of Jane Austen’s work, presented papers to Jane Austen Groups and conferences, and published journal articles in Australia over the past ten years.
The biography of Jane Austen’s aunt Philadelphia Hancock is the product of seven years of research and a fascination with the untold stories of eighteenth-century women. This is her first book for Pen & Sword. Merriman is on Instagram.
ABOUT Sophia Rose, Guest reviewer
Sophia is a quiet, curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips, campouts, museums, monuments, restaurants, and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and a loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, baseball, cats, Scooby Doo, and chocolate.
As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. In 2012, she submitted her first book review and is currently an associate reviewer.
Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener, which allows her to experience many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction, particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Sorry, no horror...or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.
Thanks for this review, Sophia Rose! Merriman's work sounds like a fascinating examination of eighteenth-century life -- and a reminder that women, too, lived wide and varied lives during this time period!