Jane Austen was an English writer who first gave the novel its distinctly modern character through her treatment of ordinary people in everyday life. She was born in the Hampshire village of Steventon, where her father, the Reverend George Austen, was rector. She was the second daughter and seventh child in a family of eight-six boys and two girls. Her closest companion throughout her life was her elder sister, Cassandra; neither Jane nor Cassandra married. Their father was a scholar who encouraged the love of learning in his children. His wife, Cassandra(nee Leigh), was a woman of ready wit, famed forher impromptu verses and stories. She published four novels during her lifetime: Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1815). In her novels, she vividly depicted English middle-class life during the early 19th century. Her novels became timeless classics that remained critical and popular successes.