Dearest Cousin Jane

Speculated to have been born from a love affair between her mother and the great Warren Hastings, founder of the East India Company and the British Raj, Countess Eliza de Feuillide was a precocious young woman and well-known flirt. Drawing on historical fact, this title paints a portrait of this Jane Austen's free-spirited and seductive cousin. In Dearest Cousin Jane, an enchanting new novel that draws on historical fact, Jill Pitkeathley paints a luminous portrait of the true-life cousin of a literary legend—from her flirtatious younger years to her profound influence on one of the world's most beloved authors. Free-spirited and seductive—outrageous, precocious, and a well-known flirt—Countess Eliza de Feuillide has an unquenchable thirst for life and a glamorous air that captivates everyone around her. Rumored to have been born of a mad love affair between her mother and the great Warren Hastings of the East India Company, Eliza sees the world as her playground—filled with grand galas, theater, and romance—and she will let nothing hold her down. Even tragedy cannot dim her enthusiasm. Losing her only child at an early age and widowed when her husband—the dashing French count Jean de Feuillide—is claimed by Madame la Guillotine during the dark days of the Reign of Terror, Eliza is determined to remain indomitable, unpredictable, and unfettered. And it is this passionate spirit that she brings to a simple English country parsonage to influence the life, the work, and the world of her unsuspecting cousin . . . a quiet and unassuming young writer named Jane Austen. Drawing on historical fact, Jill Pitkeathley paints a luminous portrait of Jane Austen's free-spirited and seductive cousin, Countess Eliza de Feuillide - from her flirtatious younger years to her great influence on one of the world's favourite authors. Speculated to have been born from a love affair between her mother and the great Warren Hastings, founder of the East India Company and the British Raj, Eliza was a precocious young woman and well-known flirt. Educated in England and France, she went on to marry a French count, Jean de Feuillide, and bear one son with him, who died before reaching adulthood. She later suffered the loss of her husband when Madame la Guillotine claimed him during the early days of the French Revolution. Eliza was close to the Austen family throughout her days, and flirted with both of Jane's brothers profusely, encouraging both men to propose to her upon the death of her husband. She eventually accepted Jane's favourite brother Henry, bringing glamour and excitement on her visits to the Austen's country parsonage in England. With chapters in the voices of Jane, Jane's sister Cassandra, and other family members including Jane's love-sick brothers, Pitkeathley reveals Countess Eliza's influence on one of the world's best loved novelists - and that it is indeed high time her story is told.