No, Jane Austen never married. Scholars think that in 1802 she agreed to marry Harris Bigg-Wither, the 21-year-old heir of a family from Austen’s native Hampshire, England, but the next morning she changed her mind. There are also a number of stories connecting her with someone with whom she fell in love but who died very soon after. Since Austen’s novels are deeply concerned with love and marriage, it is highly likely that their author understood the experience of love and broken relationships.