Jane Austen is famously a writer of comedy, but many readers turn to her work in times of difficulty and sorrow, not merely to escape, but because Austen, with her wonderful capacity for surprise, seems to make room for these darker times. So author Rachel Cohen found during the period of ordinary joys and sorrows when her children were born, her father died, and she read nothing but Austen. Join Cohen for a conversation about her latest work, Austen Years: A Memoir in Five Novels, as she explores the surprise mingling of sorrow and joy – in Jane Austen’s life, in Sense and Sensibility, and in what draws us back to Austen through reading and films of our own day.

A book signing will follow this program.

This program is presented as part of the annual Karla Scherer Endowed Lecture Series for the University of Chicago.

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