Patchwork

In the later years of her life, English novelist Jane Austen made a quilt. Acclaimed graphic novelist Kate Evans deconstructs this patchwork coverlet and uses the fabrics to illustrate Austen’s life story. The arc subverts that of the romantic heroine and turns it into a hero’s journey. The world is ready for the story of a middle-aged, formidable, maiden aunt creating success on her own terms.

This is a bold re-imagining of the graphic biography format where the textures and colours of snippets of the cloth that Austen works are given new resonance, interwoven with a period-accurate retelling of the events of her life and her books. Evans’s art style – a cross between Raymond Briggs and Beatrix Potter – and the historically accurate and quintessentially English vision of Austen’s world that she creates will be appealing to Austenites.

Kate Evans' love for Jane Austen shines through in the work. Her incredible eye for historical detail allows for the creation of an immersive vision of Regency England. The little details – panes of glass, bits of lace, hedgelaying styles, the cut of a coat or the architecture of a Hampshire cottage – vividly recreate Jane Austen's world.