BBC HomeExplore the BBC


Accessibility help
Text only
BBC Homepage
BBC Radio
Woman's Hour - Weekdays 10-11am, Saturdays 4-5pm
Listen online to Radio 4


Contact Us

Like this page?
Send it to a friend!

 
booksarchive
 
  Chawton House 11 August 2004  
A library devoted to women's writing

Sandy Lerner is a huge Jane Austen fan. She has read Persuasion 70 times. She's an American multi-millionaire who, along with her husband, set up and sold the computer firm Cisco Systems in 1990 for a 125 million dollars.

She's given away a large proportion of her wealth to charity and opened a library devoted to women's writing from 1620 to 1830. It's at Chawton House in Hampshire - the former home of Jane Austen's brother Edward Austen Knight.

Anna Egan went to the restored manor house to ask Sandy about the roots of her passion for the prose of Jane Austen and her literary sisters. 

Chawton House is open to the public on 11 September as part of the English Heritage's Heritage Open Days Scheme

Chawton House
BBC Books
English Heritage


Disclaimer
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.
 
Recent items about Books
12 Nov 2009: Canine Chic
10th Nov 2009: Leslie Scott
 
More items in the Books Archive
 
Listen
Listen now to the latest Woman's Hour
Listen Now
Latest programme
 
Listen again to previous programmes
Listen Again
Previous programmes
 
 
 

Male listeners

How do you listen to the programme? And what do you enjoy about it? Please share your experiences with us.

Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas - image courtesy of Diana Souhami/I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd
Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas
The couple's life together
 
Image: Find out how more about the Woman's Hour podcast
Podcast
More about Woman's Hour podcasts
 
 




About the BBC | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy