Queen Anne’s 4s visited (virtually) the Jane Austen House Museum.

A tour of the interior of Chawton Cottage revealed amongst other things, how the green wallpaper in the dining room made with the use of Arsenic, may have been detrimental to Jane’s health - however before her death at the age of 41, she wrote the novels; Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion from this address.

Many other compositions, her letters, were largely burnt by her sister Cassandra, (she and Jane were called the ‘Formidibles’ locally!) leaving only 150 for us to peruse now. QAS 4s students were asked to imagine what Jane may have written in the destroyed letters which might possibly have caused such offense…was it perhaps details of flirtatious dances? Gossip about future husbands? News from abroad? We will never know but the 4s certainly had some interesting ideas.