Melville House Books

Jane Austen, in a disputed portrait supposedly made when she was 14

Andrew Norman says he’s discovered the identity of the mystery man who broke Jane Austen‘s heart. As Matthew Moore reports
in this story for The Telegraph, Austen never married but “the emotional warmth of her romantic novels has always fed speculation about her private passions” — such as who was the real-life inspiration for the dashing Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.

Austen scholars know she was forlorn over a case of unrequited love. In a letter to her sister, Cassandra, she wrote, “There seems no likelihood of his coming into Hampshire
this Christmas, and it is therefore most probably that our indifference will soon be mutual, unless his regard, which appeared to spring from knowing nothing of me at first, is best supported by never seeing me.” Her writings also reveal that later, she had a bitter falling-out with Cassandra over this mystery man.

Now, Norman, author of Jane Austen: An Unrequited Love, says Austen’s true love was a local clergyman named Dr. Samuel Blackall, as evidenced by, among other things. “Dr Blackall’s letters to friends disclose his wish to pursue a courtship with the young author, but his uncertainty was treated as a snub by Austen,” according to Norman.

“Austen’s novels and poems from around this time support the Blackall theory,” according to Norman, and add an even sadder revelation: “that the author and her sister Cassandra were driven apart as they battled for his affections.” As evidence, Norman cites one of Austen’s poems, entitled “Miss Austen,” seemingly directed at her sister: “It is the cause of many woes/ It swells the eyes and reds the nose/ And very often changes those/ Who once were friends to bitter foes.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.