Jane Dunn

Jane Dunn is a British author. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Early and personal life She was born Jane Thesen, daughter of David and Ellinor Thesen, in Durban, South Africa. She is great-great-grand-daughter of both John Bennie (first Xhosa linguist, and co-founder of Lovedale Mission School) and Charles Wilhelm Thesen. She grew up in Wiltshire, the eldest of eight children.

Dunn received a BA (Hons) in Philosophy from University College London.

Her first job was in the editorial department of Vogue magazine.

She was married to the publisher Philip Dunn (1946-2007), with two children, Benjamin and Lily. She is now married to the linguist and author Nicholas Ostler and has lived in Hungerford since 2015.

Books

Non-fiction Moon in Eclipse: A Life of Mary Shelley (1978) Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell: A Very Close Conspiracy (1990) Antonia White: A Life (1998) Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens (2003) Read My Heart: Dorothy Osborne & Sir William Temple. A Love Story in the Age of Revolution (2008) Daphne du Maurier and Her Sisters: The Hidden Lives of Piffy, Bird and Bing (2013)

Fiction The Marriage Season (2023) An Unsuitable Heiress (2023) A Scandalous Match (2024)