Jane Austen's Bookshelf: Jane Austen's Bookshelf: The women writers who shaped a legend (hardback) - by Rebecca Romney
 
Who were the women writers that inspired Jane Austen? Why have they all but disappeared from our bookshelves?
 
Austen read Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Hannah More, Charlotte Smith, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth, all authors Rebecca hadn't.
 
These female writers all sat proudly on Austen's bookshelf, but have disappeared from ours. Romney became fascinated with these writers and wanted to answer three important questions: What were the stories behind the lives of these women? Why have they disappeared from our bookshelves? Who wrote them out of history?