The late 18th century world in which Jane Austen lived was one that combined good sense, elegant manners, intelligence and piety with a liberal dash of spirited fun. Drawing on Jane Austen's letters, novels, and other people's memories of her, David Cecil sets out to "reconstruct and depict her living personality and to explore it in relation to her art". The portrait that emerges is of a clear-sighted, observant, strong-minded woman whose witty and ironic representation of her own society has delighted millions of readers for centuries.

Lord Edward Christian David Gascoyne-Cecil CH (9 April 1902 – 1 January 1986), was an English aristocrat, literary scholar, biographer and academic. His title was a courtesy title: he was a younger son of the 4th Marquess of Salisbury.

He was the fourth child and second son of the 4th Marquess of Salisbury and Lady Alice Gore. He was a very delicate child. He suffered from a tubercular gland in his neck at the age of 8 and after an operation he spent a great deal of time in bed, where he developed his love of books and reading. Owing to his delicate health his parents sent him to Eton later than other boys and he survived the experience by spending one day a week in bed.

He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. He was a Fellow of New College, Oxford from 1939 to 1969, when he became an Honorary Fellow. In 1947, he was made professor of rhetoric at Gresham College, London, for a year. He was Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford from 1948 to 1970, his pupils including Dr. R.K.Sinha, John Bayley and Ludovic Kennedy. He was also a member of the literary group known as the Inklings

He married Rachel MacCarthy, daughter of Desmond MacCarthy. Father of the actor Jonathan Cecil.

Cecil's 1939 book The Young Melbourne, the first of two biographies he published of William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, the British Prime Minister, was one of John F. Kennedy's favourite books.