Jon Hunter Spence (July 30, 1945 – June 20, 2011[1][2]) was an American Jane Austen scholar.
[1] He was a long-standing member of the editorial board of the Jane Austen Society of Australia, became an Australian citizen in May 2011, and committed suicide, at his Sydney home in Double Bay the following month.
University of Wisconsin-Madison English professor Joseph Wiesenfarth noted in a review that the work "is one of the best half-dozen books published on Austen in the last quarter century, at least.
His interpretation of Jane Austen’s character and personality as well as of her fiction impresses the reader with his long and intimate acquaintance with the writer and her works.
"[3] Wiesenfarth also observed that the book must have required "research in dusty, neglected archives" which he believed then led to "polished and penetrating readings of Austen’s novels along with an evocation of their author’s character".