
Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence and the studies of the writer’s biographers Radovici and Tomalin
Jane Austen was the daughter of a Reverend. Her family hoped she could find a suitable husband, while she wished to be a writer. She met Thomas Lefroy, a promising (= promettente)lawyer (= avvocato) with a bad reputation, who, at first gave her a bad impression of him, then the two got to know each (= si conobbero) other gradually, and eventually (= all fine) they fell in love. Tom hoped to receive his uncle and benefactor’s blessing to marry Jane, but his uncle was the Lord Chief Judge of London and did not give his approval. Tom left Jane. Meanwhile Jane started writing what was to become First Impressions, which was then recognize her masterpiece (= capolavoro) with the title Pride and Prejudice. Then Tom came back and proposed Jane to escape with him. Jane agreed (= fu d’accordo), but on her way she discovered that Tom was his family’s only hope of survival (= sopravvivenza) and he had to obey (= obbedire) his uncle. She told Tom that they could not do this, and left to go home.
Twenty years later Jane, unmarried but famous as a writer, met Tom again. He introduced her his eldest daughter, a great fan of her books. It turned out (= si rivelò ) that the girl’s name was Jane.