Witty, sharp, and delightfully irreverent, this graphic novel breathes new life into the biography of Jane Austen. Rather than delivering a dry recounting of dates and facts, it embraces irony—the very weapon Austen herself wielded so brilliantly—to revisit her world with a wink at the reader.

The artwork captures the elegance of Regency society but punctures its stiffness with humorous exaggerations and sly visual jokes. Meanwhile, the narration dances between affectionate admiration and playful mockery, reminding us that Austen was both a product of her time and a keen critic of it.

What makes the book stand out is how it resists the trap of hagiography. Instead of placing Austen on a dusty pedestal, it treats her as a living, breathing personality: sharp-tongued, observant, and delightfully modern in her wit. Readers familiar with her novels will enjoy spotting subtle nods to Pride and Prejudice and Emma, while newcomers will discover why Austen’s irony has remained so irresistible for over two centuries.

In short, this is not just a biography in panels—it’s a conversation across time, where past and present meet in laughter.

I am afraid this is a DNF for me. I thought the concept seemed interesting, and I was interested in learning more about Jane Austen. Unfortunately, for me the book seemed to balance in an awkward position between an illustrated biography and a graphic novel. I thought it would be more akin to the latter, and unfortunately it was closer to the former without being as detailed as an actually illustrated biography might be. I am sure some people might enjoy it, but I would have personally preferred either more illustrations, or more information presented as a story rather than illustrated facts.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel that described the life of Jane Austen. The story was interesting and moved at a good pace. I also generally enjoyed the art work though the style of drawing the people wasn't exactly to my liking. I also really enjoyed how they used the fabrics and a quilt to tie all the pieces together. The section in the middle where they described all the different fabrics, and where they came from, how they were made, and their histories was also really interesting as I have read where these fibers are used, but don't know much about them. Overall this was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it to all Austen fans.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

4 ⭐️ This is a very beautifully done well researched grathic biography! The art is really elegant and eye-catching I learnt so much about Jane Austens life I would highly recommend this gorgeous book!

Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the art style, but the font was hard to read. If you've read about the life of Jane Austen, a lot of what's in this book will be familiar to you, but it's still worth a read. Though, I think it might be a bit too detailed for anyone who isn't already an avid fan of Austen and the Regency era.

Five out of Five. The art work was beautiful and modern spin on illustrated plates that you might have seen during the Georgian Era. As a fan of historical dress and material culture, I love that this book woven in the material textile of the period into the story of Jane's life. It was a brilliant choice and really gives the narrative another angle.

For every Jane Austen fan it is truly a must read. I wasn't familiar with her life and I had no idea how sad it was in a way. The things she went through make me admire her strength and brain and bravery for putting out all of her novels that criticized the society while also showing love in a new light. The art style of the comic part was quite interesting. I especially enjoyed the face expressions all of the characters/people made. I also appreciate the author put very extensive biography at the end along with many notes explaining Jane's moments and situations she was in more in depth.

I don't read a lot of graphic novels or anything like that, so it took me a little bit to get used to what I was reading. Once I got with the program, it was a charming read. I don't mean 'charming' to imply there is no substance, just that the art made everything enjoyable. The connection to Austen's patchwork quilt was rather loose, in that it was not particularly important in the book, it served as part of the visual presentation that tied the story together with little diamonds of cloth.

Anyone who's read any other books about Austen knows that clothing (the getting of, the making of, the cost of) was important to her and her sister, partly because of their limited finances. An interlude in the center of the book talks about where the fabrics came from that were used in English clothing around 1800. Where cotton came from and how it was produced was not new to me, nor was the source of Irish linen, but I didn't know much about the production of fine muslin in India. This section was a lot of medicine made to go down with spoonfuls of pretty presentation and snippets of songs.

Evans plays up the sharp edge of Jane Austen's sense of humor, and her determination to be her own person, and the parallels between situations and characters in her books and people in her own life. And in this book, you MUST read the endnotes, they are a whole other book in themselves, full of where she found things she said or how she put them together to suit her narrative. She said two things that really stuck with me, even beyond the information about Indian muslin.

First, although everyone in Austen's novels is constantly mending, sewing, or embroidering, never once in any screen adaptation of her books do you ever see anybody at needlework. WHY????

Second - it never occurred to me, but Austen never actually writes a scene of a marriage proposal made and accepted. She sets it up, and then passes over it with the remark that everyone knows what took place. I suppose this is because it's the one thing that happens in her books that she had no direct experience of.

I would not make this my only source of biographical information about Austen, but if you already know something about her, this is a beautifully presented look at her life from a slightly different angle.

I love Jane Austen, but I struggled to read this. It wasn't the information, but the way the information was presented. It was just a hard format for me to follow and read fluidly. It's nothing against Kate Evans, but it took away from my reading experience. I love the concept, though.

3 stars for "Patchwork" - I love Jane Austen & a graphic novel biography sounded great. And there were some interesting details there that I had not read before, which was cool. However, I really did not care for the illustrations used at all and found it hard to get through as they just felt quite jarring. That's just my taste, others will likely feel different. My thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for my advance reader's copy - appreciate the opportunity to check it out.

What an engaging and visually stunning way to learn about the life of Ms Jane Austen. I i’m not someone who generally reads graphic novels but when I saw this title I was intrigued. And I couldn’t be happier that I picked this one to review. The story was fun informative and enthralling. I had not known anything about the life of Jane Austen before reading this novel and I now feel educated and well informed as well as entertained. Beautiful storytelling and gorgeous artwork.

Thank you to net galley for providing me with an ebook ARC of this graphic biography. I absolutely love all things Jane Austen, so I was looking forward to delving into 'Patchwork'. Unfortunately, I found that art style ugly, which prevented me from getting very far into reading it.

Jane Austen comes alive in this beautiful rendering of possibilities, using the medium of textiles and fabric crafts as an entry point to Austen's world. This thoroughly researched story attempts to fill the (many) gaps in Austen's historical records with cultural references and lines from Austen's own works, creating a different type of patchwork that comes together to explore who this famous but still-unknown woman may have been.

This is an amazing graphic biography. Beautiful, touching, I never wanted to put it down. I cried more times than I can count, and my face is still sticky from tears as I write this review. What a labor of love. I just adore it. I only wish I had more stars to give.

this was a good graphic novel about jane austen's life! i think the text can feel too bloated when it's paired with the images but overall it was the purpose since this is a biography

7.5/10

A well-prepared book with sensory touches such as various coloured and textured fabrics, too.

4 stars because the plot was not really my style/taste.

Patchwork by Kate Evans is an interesting illustrated biography of Jane Austen. As an Austen fan, I am familiar with her history and this title was a good representation of it. The only complain I had was that the font was difficult to read. I understand that it was to match with the historical component of the book, but it was hard to interpret.

I thought the patchwork/quilting aspect of the book was different. When the book went into detail about the production of cloth, I thought it was a weird tangent, but it ended up working out.

I wasn't a fan of the artwork, but that's just the illustrator's style and I respect it. It reminded me of a political cartoon. Overall, it was a good nonfiction read!

Beautiful art style, which captures the mood of Austin's era yet that is a lot of text jammed in with lots of information. May not be everyone's couple of tea due the text density yet Austin buffs might love it.

Thank you to NetGalley for my Advanced Reader's Copy of this book.

Beautifully drawn and incredibly thorough, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about Jane Austen's life. Even Austen fans will find new to them info by reading this book. That said, it's a very crowded book and at times the print is hard to read. I also thought that there would be more about the quilt and sewing but that may just be me. 2.5 stars.

This is such a unique book. A graphic novel style biography of Jane Austen, this is one that can be read over and over again. It is beautiful and serious looking for a coffee table book, with an unexpected surprise of graphic novel combined with quilting and beautiful textile images on each page.