British author and biographer
Paula Jayne Byrne, Lady Bate
(born 2 August 1967), is a British biographer, novelist, and literary critic.
Life
[
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Byrne has a PhD in English literature from the
University of Liverpool
, where she also studied for her MA, having completed a BA in English and Theology at West Sussex Institute of Higher Education (now
Chichester University
).
Byrne is the founder and chief executive of a small charitable foundation, ReLit: The Bibliotherapy Foundation, dedicated to the promotion of literature as a complementary therapy in the toolkit of medical practitioners dealing with stress, anxiety and other mental health conditions.
[1]
She is also a practicing psychotherapist, specializing in couples and family counseling.
[2]
Byrne, who is from a large working-class Roman Catholic family in Birkenhead, is married to Sir
Jonathan Bate
,
Shakespeare
scholar and former
Provost
of
Worcester College, Oxford
.
[3]
Career
[
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Paula Byrne's debut book was the study of
Jane Austen
,
Jane Austen and the Theatre
, which was published in 2002 by Hambledon and shortlisted for the
Theatre Book Prize
. An updated version, with a new chapter on stage and film adaptations of Austen, was announced for publication by
HarperCollins
in 2017, with the new title
The Genius of Jane Austen: her love of theatre and why she is a hit in Hollywood
.
In 2005 Byrne's biography
Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson
was featured on the
Richard & Judy Book Club
on
Channel 4
, propelling it into the
Sunday Times
bestseller list. It was long listed for the
Samuel Johnson Prize
and contributed to a revival of interest in the work of
Mary Robinson
as actor, poet, novelist and proponent of women's rights.
[4]
Her book
Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead
, another top ten bestseller,
[5]
was published by HarperPress in the UK in August 2009 and HarperCollins New York in the USA in April 2010. An excerpt was published in the
Sunday Times
of 9 August under the headline "Sex scandal behind
Brideshead Revisited
". An illustrated extract appeared in the April 2010 issue of
Vanity Fair
in advance of American publication.
[6]
The book's sympathetic view of
Waugh
's character contrasted with the popular image of him.
In a television programme broadcast on
BBC2
on Boxing Day 2011 she explored the possibility that a Regency graphite on vellum drawing, labelled on the verso 'Miss Jane Austin', might be an authentic portrait of Jane Austen. The film presented forensic and art historical evidence that the work was authentic to the period, not a forgery, but the case for its being Austen was fiercely debated, both in the programme and subsequently in the
Times Literary Supplement
. Byrne lent the drawing to
Jane Austen's House Museum
in Chawton, where it was exhibited from summer 2012.
[7]
In January 2013, coinciding with the bicentenary of the first publication of
Pride and Prejudice
, Byrne published a new biography called
The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things
. Featured as
BBC Radio 4
Book of the Week, and again a
Sunday Times
top ten bestseller,
[8]
it approaches the subject's life by means of an array of key objects, including her portable writing desk and the topaz cross given to her by her brother. Austen was presented as a more worldly figure than is often thought, more engaged with city life, but above all as a highly professional writer. Byrne subsequently served as the expert consultant to the television series
Sanditon
.
In 2014, Byrne published a biography of
Dido Elizabeth Belle
, which was a commission to coincide with the general release of the motion picture
Belle
. Since few facts are known about Dido, the book set her life in the broader context of women and slavery in the late eighteenth century. It became a
New York Times
top ten bestseller.
[9]
[
failed verification
]
Her 2016 biography,
Kick
, the story of
Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington
(1920?1948),
John F Kennedy
's sister, and her marriage to Billy,
William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington
, drew on letters and diaries from the
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
archive in the
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
and the Devonshire family papers at
Chatsworth House
. It was an international bestseller, achieving particular success in the Kennedy's ancestral homeland of Ireland.
[10]
She subsequently published two novels, one of which was based on the life of
Marlene Dietrich
. In 2021, she returned to biography with the widely-acclaimed
The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym
. Based on the archive of
Barbara Pym
in the
Bodleian Library
, it revealed many surprising aspects of the life of the English novelist, including a brief love affair with a Nazi SS officer prior to the Second World War.
Bibliography
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As author:
- Jane Austen and the Theatre
(Hambledon / Continuum / Bloomsbury Academic, 2002).
- Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson
(Harper Perennial, 2004).
- Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead
(HarperPress, 2009).
- The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things
(William Collins, 2013).
- Belle: The True Story of Dido Belle
(William Collins, 2014).
- Kick: The True Story of JFK's Forgotten Sister and the Heir to Chatsworth
(William Collins, 2016).
- The Genius of Jane Austen: Her Love of Theatre and Why She Is a Hit in Hollywood
(William Collins, 2017).
- Look to your Wife
[fiction] (William Collins, 2018).
- Mirror Mirror
[fiction] (William Collins, 2020).
- The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym
(William Collins, 2021).
[11]
As editor:
- Jane Austen's Emma: A Sourcebook (Routledge, 2004).
- Stressed, Unstressed: Classic Poems to Ease the Mind
, (Jonathan Bate, co-editor) (William Collins, 2016).
References
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External links
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