Bankers Get a Dire Warning From Jane Austen's Final Book

Jane Austen’s novels, including Pride and Prejudice and Emma, continue to grip readers (and viewers) in her semiquincentennial year. Her enduring appeal may come from the comfort her stories bring, with much of the action taking place in drawing rooms and manicured gardens. To be an Austen heroine is usually to win the literary lottery, when looked at outwardly at least. You get a spouse, money and a secure home, things that many modern readers find harder to come by.

But off the page there was turmoil in Austen’s world. A couple of years before her death, she and her family were struck by a climate event that changed everything. Her experience remains relevant today.