A Rambling Fancy: In the Footsteps of Jane Austen

In A Rambling Fancy, Caroline Sanderson seeks out Jane Austen€s England €“ the churches, great houses, coaching inns, rectories and seaside lodgings €“ to see what still remains today. Following in Jane Austen€s footsteps, Sanderson tramps the muddy fields around Austen€s childhood home in rural Hampshire, walks the elegant streets of Bath, and strolls along the breezy promenades of south coast resort. Drawing upon Jane Austen€s letters as well as her many novels Caroline Sanderson charts her own experiences of the very places from which Jane Austen sought inspiration, reaching some original and fascinating conclusions.

Sanderson, a lifelong Austen devotee, also sheds light on just why this very English novelist is still so universally cherished and why Austen€s influence remains so great. Are we riding a wave of nostalgia for a way of life now completely lost to us? Or have we finally cast off the chintz and embraced Austen as a novelist for our own times €“ one whose understanding of how we behave towards one another, and of the importance of money, sex and social status is just as pertinent as it ever was?