THE ULTIMATE AUDIOBOOK COLLECTION FEATURING THE WORKS OF JANE AUSTEN This Buy-It-Now auction features eleven audiobooks authored by Jane Austen. All eight of her novels and three additional works reside as mp3 digital files on a single properly formatted flash drive so that each audiobook can be played on automobile entertainment systems equipped with a USB port (See photo examples) or any computer equipped with a USB port. If played on a computer, each file includes the title and chapter number(s). Each file is also "tagged" with graphics, as well the title, author, and chapter number making navigation easy and intuitive if played using your vehicle's entertainment system. Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her novels, which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her use of biting irony, along with her realism and social commentary, have earned her acclaim among critics and scholars. NOVELS Sense and Sensibility: Published anonymously, this novel follows the three Dashwood sisters as they move with their widowed mother from the estate on which they grew up, Norland Park, to their new home, Barton Cottage. The four women must move to a meager cottage on the property of a distant relative, where they experience love, romance, and heartbreak. The novel is likely set in southwest England, London and Sussex between 1792 and 1797. Pride and Prejudice: This is a romantic novel that charts the emotional development of the protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, who learns the error of making hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between the superficial and the essential. The comedy of the writing lies in the depiction of manners, education, marriage, and money during the British Regency period. Mansfield Park: The third novel by Jane Austen tells the story of Fanny Price starting when her overburdened family sends her at age 10 to live in the household of her wealthy aunt and uncle, through to her marriage. While some critics found this to be one of Austen's best novels, it is perhaps Austen's most controversial novel due to its brief mention of the British slave trade, and the fact that Fanny's uncle and benefactor, Sir Thomas, owns a plantation in the West Indies. Emma: As in her other novels, Austen explored the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in England. She also created a lively comedy of manners among her characters and depicts issues of marriage, gender, age, and social status. Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." Emma is spoiled, headstrong, and self-satisfied; she greatly overestimates her own matchmaking abilities; she is blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives; and her imagination and perceptions often lead her astray. Northanger Abbey: Published after her death, Northanger Abbey is a satire of Gothic novels, which were quite popular at the time. This coming-of-age story revolves around Catherine Morland, a young and naïve "heroine," who entertains the reader on her journey to a better understanding of the world and those around her. In the course of the novel, she discovers that she differs from those other women who crave wealth or social acceptance, as instead she wishes only to have happiness supported by genuine morality. Persuasion: This was the last novel fully completed by Jane Austen. It was published six months after her death. The story concerns Anne Elliot, a 27 year old Englishwoman, whose family is moving to lower their expenses at the same time as the sailors were returning to England after war. They rent their home to an Admiral and his wife whose brother had been engaged to Anne. This sets the scene for many humorous encounters as well as a second, well-considered chance at love and marriage for Anne Elliot in her second "bloom". Lady Susan: Lady Susan is a short novel written many years before it was published after Austen's death. It describes the schemes of the title character. Lady Susan Vernon, a beautiful and charming recent widow, visits her brother- and sister-in-law, Charles and Catherine Vernon, with little advance notice. Catherine is far from pleased, as Lady Susan had tried to prevent her marriage to Charles and her unwanted guest has been described to her as "the most accomplished coquette in England". The Watsons: This fragment of a novel remained untitled and unpublished until her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh printed it in his A Memoir of Jane Austen. Mr. Watson is a widowed clergyman with two sons and four daughters. The youngest daughter, Emma, has been brought up by a wealthy aunt and is consequently better educated and more refined than her sisters. But when her aunt contracts a foolish second marriage, Emma is obliged to return to her father's house. There she is chagrined by the crude and reckless husband-hunting of two of her twenty-something sisters. OTHER WORKS Plan of a Novel: The intention of this short, satirical work was to set down the essential parts of the "ideal novel". Austen was following the recommendations of James Clarke, a cleric and a man of letters. The work was also influenced by some of Austen's personal circle with views on the novel of courtship, and names are recorded in the margins of the manuscript that included William Gifford, her publisher, and her niece Fanny Knight. The Plan became a sort of family joke among the Austens. Some of its aspects parody contemporary works by authors such as Sophie Cottin, Fanny Burney, Anna Maria Porter, and Mary Brunton. The satire of the Plan was analysed by Austen's nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh, in his biography A Memoir of Jane Austen. Jane Austen's Juvenilia: Before becoming the author of such classics as Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma, Jane Austen experimented with various writing styles as a teenager in the early 1790s. This is a collection of her juvenilia, including the epistolary novels Love and Friendship, Lesley Castle, and Lady Susan, as well as her comic History of England and some shorter pieces. The Letters of Jane Austen: This recording includes a selection of Jane Austen's letters chosen from the collection of Austen's great-nephew, Edward, Lord Brabourne. The letters are mostly addressed to Austen's sister Cassandra, with whom she was very close. There are also some letters written to two of her nieces, Anna Austen Lefroy and Fanny Knight. They include some references to her published work, including Sense and Sensibility (abbreviated "S and S"), Pride and Prejudice (also called First Impressions, or P and P), Mansfield Park ("MP") and Emma. They are also replete with details about her family life, including the extended families and careers of her brothers, James, Edward, Frank, Henry, and Charles. Each of the recordings in this collection are read by volunteers from Librivox, aorganization dedicated to the distribution of public domain books. Thank you for viewing my eBay listing, and happy listening should you decide to purchase this offering from Affordable OTR!