BBC One Just Released a New TV Series About Jane Austen – It Already Has 90% on RT
A historical drama about the Austen family that will appeal to all devoted fans of the great author.
The new series Miss Austen is based on the bestseller by Gill Hornby and offers a look at Jane's life through the eyes of her beloved sister. As is well known, there are far fewer facts than suppositions about the life of the novelist.
The figure of Austen is shrouded in mystery and numerous unanswered questions. One of the reasons for the scarcity of biography is believed to be Cassandra's decision to destroy most of her younger sister's correspondence.
This new four-part miniseries attempts to answer the burning question: why were Jane's letters burned?
What Is Miss Austen About?
In 1830, Jane Austen is no longer alive, and her sister Cassandra goes to visit her old friends, the Fowles. After the death of the owner of the house, she hopes to find letters written by his late wife Eliza, who corresponded with Jane for many years, and to preserve her sister's legacy.
Soon Mary, the wife of James Austen, Cassandra and Jane's brother, arrives at the Fowle'. The guest also hopes to get her hands on her friends' correspondence. But Mary has other plans: she wants her son to write a biography of James and Jane Austen.
Patsy Ferran Is a Perfect Choice to Play Jane Austen
The story begins in the 1830s, but the plot is full of flashbacks: Cassandra reads letters and remembers her youth with Jane.
The talented young lady was played by Patsy Ferran, and it seems that the creators hit the nail on the head with their choice of actress for the role of the writer.
Ferran easily captures the spirit of the novelist – a funny, witty, pretty and insightful young woman for whom pen and ink were more important than the idea of marriage.
We see how Jane reads the next chapter to her sister, how she withdraws into her study to write, how she falls into melancholy because of forced removals – fragments of the sisters' lives give an idea of how the writer lived and worked.
Miss Austen Follows the Tradition of the Books
An important topic in the series, and in all of Jane's texts, is the unenviable lot of women.
Unable to inherit family property, unmarried young ladies left home and became dependent on their relatives. Marriage was almost the only way to resolve financial difficulties and secure a better life.
Some may mistakenly perceive Austen's novels as just cute love stories, but Jane's works gave readers a little more than escapist pleasure: marriage stories captured the social and economic climate of the country.
And Miss Austen continues in the novelist's tradition: the screenwriters focus on how young ladies lose their homes and desperately wait for a happy ending, which does not happen as often as in the books.