Wild for Austen, a deeply researched, rollicking book by scholar Devoney Looser, traces the fascinating evolution of Austen’s legacy over the past 250 years, putting to rest the myth that Austen was a quiet spinster. Looser uncovers striking new gems in Austen’s six completed novels, as well as in her juvenilia, unfinished fiction, essays, and poetry. She also tackles new scholarship, writing about Austen’s relationship to the abolitionist movement and women’s suffrage. Written with warmth, humor, and remarkable details never before published, Wild for Austen is the ultimate tribute to Jane Austen.

Looser, a Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University, is the author of several books, including The Brontës and The Making of Jane Austen. A Guggenheim Fellow and a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar, she is a life member of the Jane Austen Society of North America and played roller derby under the name Stone Cold Jane Austen.