A rare-book dealer traces the books that Austen admired. Many were by women writers who were the literary stars of their day.

A chance encounter with Frances Burney's 1778 novel, Evelina, sent rare book dealer Rebecca Romney on a yearslong quest to find the women writers who influenced Jane Austen's work. One of Romney's ...

Shortly after it begins, Rebecca Romney’s first solo work of nonfiction “becomes something of a mystery novel,” said ...

The 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth this year brings an overdue opportunity for a general audience to discover the female writers who most importantly influenced her – figures such as ...

“Jane Austen’s Bookshelf” contends that virtually every part of that sentence is wrong. Rebecca Romney, the author and occasional “Pawn Stars” guest who wrote “Bookshelf,” is a fan ...

On a special episode (first released on March 13, 2025) of The Excerpt podcast: There are few writers who have as devoted a following as celebrated English novelist Jane Austen, author of classics ...

As a bookseller, Rebecca Romney usually makes a profit from satisfying other people’s curiosity. In “Jane Austen’s Bookshelf,” however, she takes us along on a self-defined quest that grew ...

"Jane Austen's Bookshelf" spotlights eight women writers, largely lost to history, who influenced the English novelist. Rare book dealer Rebecca Romney dedicates a book to the women Jane Austen ...

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We tend to think of Jane Austen as the first great female novelist, whose originality paved the way for creative descendants to dazzle critics and readers. “Jane Austen’s Bookshelf” contends ...