Diane Jane Ball:The Austens of Steventon

This novel is based on facts and real events connected with the Austen family. It follows the same chronological order as documented in memoirs, letters, ancestral records and biographies. 

If you would like to purchase the book, click here.

what will you find on this site?

top menu

At the top of every page, you will see the main locations from the book presented in alphabetical order. When you click on a location, you will be taken to a new page of photos, links and explanations for why that place is important.

interactive maps

The first item on the page will be a map detailing the precise location of the village, town or city. You can zoom in and out for an overview of where it is in relation to the rest of the UK. The example below is set for Monk Sherborne.

main content

On each page, you will find information about the place itself. Every important building linked to the novel is documented with photos, facts and links to third-party sites. The photographs are my own from personal visits, and although the third-party sites have been checked and verified, I cannot be held responsible for any content that appears there. 

Each location is unique, so you will find some pages will contain more information than others, depending on what took place there. You will find a red link to Google Maps for each property to plan your own directions, and you will learn which characters from the book spent time there and why it was important to them.

extracts

At the bottom of each page you will find a link to an extract from the novel, connected to the location in question.

You can also go directly to an extract from the top menu bar, by clicking the arrow next to each location.

The extracts are illustrated with a mix of photos from my own library. Not all of these images are from the specific locations mentioned, but may be from other historic sites I have visited. Every photograph has a credit to show where it was taken. Please look them up if a particular setting or view catches your eye.

You should be aware that although photographs enhance the extracts on this website, there are no illustrations or photographs within the book itself.

references

This book would never have been possible if it were not for the work done by researchers and scholars before me. At the foot of each page, you will find a list of the sources I used to provide you with the information on that page.

I would like to express my thanks to everyone who contributed towards them. If you would like to see the full list of sources I used for the entire novel, broken down into topics, then you will find that here.

family homes and ships

There are some settings in the book that are not given pages of their own as no significant scenes took place there. However, they are still important to some of the characters in the story. The Family Homes page has maps and links to third-party websites for the properties concerned, and the Ships page documents the dates that the sailor brothers were on board, together with a link to the Wikipedia pages for most vessels.

family trees

You will find family trees for the Austen, Fowle, Lloyd, Leigh and Cooper families on the Family Trees page. Along with names, dates and branches to link the individuals, you will also find a brief explanation of who each person is, in order to identify quickly which character they are.

have i missed ANYthing?

I am always keen to speak to readers who have more knowledge about the places I have visited. If you have connections to anywhere mentioned on this site and would like to share your wisdom, then please get in touch.

Likewise, if you spot an error in something I have written, then please let me know.

You can contact me via email on info@diane-jane-ball.com

a word about the timeline

This site is dedicated solely to the novel  The Austens of Steventon. Consequently, all of the information written on these pages covers the time period from 1754 until May 1801. I know that some of the places hold greater significance to some of the characters later on in their lives and you can be assured that this information will be included on the websites of my follow-up works.

The Austens of Bath spans the time period from May 1801 until July 1809, to be released in April 2025.

The third novel, The Austens of Chawton, will cover the time period from July 1809 onwards. 

a final word to fellow janeites