Thomas Lefroy the lost love of Jane Austen’s life. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Thomas_Langlois_Lefroy.jpg/475px-Thomas_Langlois_Lefroy.jpg
Jane Austen. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Jane_Austen_coloured_version.
Not even Jane Austen could escape the time old tale of the ‘The One that got Away”. Austen had been in love with a man named Thomas Lefroy who was a man going to school to become a lawyer. Lefroy was a nephew of one of the Austen’s neighbors from 1785-1786 and it is suggested that Austen and Lefroy spent a lot of time together. (Jane Austen: A Family Record, Deirdre LeFaye). Austen wrote letters to her sister Cassandra in which she told her “I am almost afraid to tell you how my Irish friend and I behaved. Imagine to yourself everything most profligate and shocking in the way of dancing and sitting down together.” (LeFaye). However, the love wasn’t meant to be. Like something out of one of her novels, Austen and Lefroy were separated because his family wanted different things for him and sent him off for his barrister training. Neither of them had money and his family wanted him to marry someone who had money and could help provide for him and a family. He told his nephew that he had loved Austen, very much. So, Austen decided to keep writing and provide for herself. She realized she didn’t need to be married to be happy or successful. So, if she could be as successful, if not more than some male writers, all because she saw that marriage, while important, wasn’t necessary for happiness or success.