On the rugged coast of Nova Scotia, waves crash, gulls cry, and fog rolls in thick off the Atlantic. It’s easy to imagine that nothing has changed here in centuries—and at the Fortress of Louisbourg, it truly hasn’t.

Tucked away in the sleepy English village of Chawton is a modest red-brick cottage with ivy climbing the walls and roses blooming by the window. At first glance, it seems like just another picturesque home from a Jane Austen novel. And that’s exactly what it is—because this house wasn’t just her inspiration. It was her reality.