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She is born
Jane Austen is born in Steventon, England. She is the seventh of eight children born to William and Cassandra Austen, and one of only two daughters. Throughout her life, her older sister, also named Cassandra after her mother, is her closest friend. -
First Schooling
Cassandra and Jane Austen are sent to Oxford, England to be educated by a private tutor named Ann Cawley. Both girls contract typhoid fever during an outbreak and return home to Steventon. -
Boarding School
Austen enrolls in boarding school at Abbey School in Reading. -
Home School
The family's money runs out and Austen returns to Steventon from boarding school. The rest of her education is completed at home from her father's voluminous library. Austen lives with her parents and sister for the rest of her life. -
Lady Susan
Austen begins Lady Susan, a novella told in the form of a series of letters. She works on it for two years. -
First Love
Austen meets Tom LeFroy, an Irish law student who is the nephew of her neighbor. Austen and LeFroy spend time together during his month-long visit to Steventon. He leaves in January 1796 and soon becomes engaged to someone else, ending whatever relationship they had. Austen writes affectionately of LeFroy to her sister, prompting later speculation that he is the real-life inspiration for her male characters. -
First Novel
Austen completes the first draft of First Impressions, the novel that later becomes Pride and Prejudice. -
A marriage proposal
Just before her 27th birthday, Jane Austen receives her only marriage proposal. A recent Oxford grad named Harris Bigg-Wither proposes to Austen while she is visiting his sisters. Realizing that the marriage would be good for her family's circumstances, Austen accepts. The next morning, however, she changes her mind and withdraws her acceptance. Bigg-Wither marries two years later; Austen never does. -
Sense and Sensibility
Austen publishes Sense and Sensibility, whose author is identified on the cover only as "a Lady." Austen's name is not attached to any of the novels she publishes during her lifetime. -
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Predudice is published. -
Illness
Austen begins to feel the first signs of a long, progressive illness that saps her energy. She continues to work on two novels, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey, but is delayed by her illness and by financial troubles caused by the failure of her brother Henry's bank. -
Jane Austen dies
Jane Austen dies at the age of 41. She is buried in Winchester Cathedral.