'Patchwork' pieces together Jane Austen's personal life
Kate Evans/Verso
In an early scene in Kate Evans' Patchwork: A Graphic Biography of Jane Austen, she depicts 3-month-old, bundled-up baby Jane being smuggled out through the back door of her family's large home. The man who takes the baby is John Littleworth, a local tenant farmer, whose wife, Elizabeth, will care for the infant in their modest cottage for a small fee until Jane, at 2 years old, is returned.
In the notes section at the end of the book, Evans admits that the real Lizzy Littleworth would have been older than the visual depiction of her in the biography. But by warping this historical detail, Evans intended to emphasize the central role that such a "vibrant and att
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