Jane Austen (December 16, 1775 - July 18, 1817)

Jane Austen was an English writer. Although Austen was widely read in her lifetime, she published her works anonymously. The most urgent preoccupations of her bright, young heroines are courtship and marriage. Austen herself never married. Her best-known books include *Pride and Prejudice* (1813) and *Emma* (1816). Virginia Woolf called Austen "the most perfect artist among women.