For many years, English novelist Jane Austen has been a relentless supply of inspiration for filmmakers and TV creators seeking to adapt her work, but in addition authors who wish to develop her world and our understanding of it.
Such is the case with “Miss Austen,” the 2020 novel by Gill Hornby. The fictional account focuses on Jane’s sister, Cassandra, and her resolution to destroy a lot of Jane’s correspondence from through the years — one thing rooted in truth. “Miss Austen” is the primary of three novels by Hornby that immerses readers within the lives of Jane and her close-knit household, which the writer discovered “completely captivating.”
“They were all bright and all rather extraordinary, although Jane was the most extraordinary of all,” Hornby mentioned. “She would write in the day and then read aloud in the family circle at night, which they all did.”
Hornby’s novel shouldn’t be not like a Jane Austen novel, crammed with wit, playful bickering, tragedy and romance. But it surely was the love between sisters Jane and Cassandra that impressed this explicit guide, which has now been tailored for tv.
“Miss Austen,” a four-part miniseries, will premiere at 9 p.m. PST Sunday on PBS as a part of “Masterpiece.” (Subsequent episodes will air on Sundays, with the ultimate two airing Might 18; in addition they will stream on the PBS app and PBS.org.) The interval drama, starring actor Keeley Hawes as Cassandra Austen, premiered within the U.Ok. on BBC One in February to favorable critiques.
Keeley Hawes stars as Cassandra Austen in “Masterpiece’s” “Miss Austen” on PBS.
(Robert Viglasky / Bonnie Productions for Masterpiece)
Hornby was joined by government producer Christine Langan of Bonnie Productions, which produced the collection for “Masterpiece,” at a screening of “Miss Austen” on the Los Angeles Instances Pageant of Books on Sunday, the place they mentioned Jane’s legacy and adapting the guide for TV. It’s the manufacturing firm’s first TV collection.
“I absolutely loved the read,” Langan mentioned about why she selected to provide it. “I was moved to tears by the end, and I found it a completely unique angle on a writer I have adored for decades, and very immediate and gripping and relatable.”
Langan, who has beforehand produced award-winning collection and movies together with “Cold Feet,” “The Deal” and “The Queen,” mentioned she beloved the concept of rehabilitating the fame of Cassandra, who was “an ever-present good influence, good source of support and love to one of the world’s most famous writers.”
Within the collection, Cassandra is barely youthful than her counterpart within the guide, and that partly needed to do with Hawes, whose dramatic and comedic skills have been essential to the function.
“We had already decided to make Cassandra a little younger than she is in the novel, the feeling being that middle-aged women are every bit as invisible in this society as elderly women,” Langan mentioned. “We loved [Hawes’] versatility and her grace, and then she met us on an equal footing with the same vision and passion.”
“Keely has a huge and brilliant reputation in the U.K. She’s hugely loved,” she added.
That stands in distinction with Cassandra, who has lengthy been considered with some consternation by historians of her sister. She burned all however 160 of Jane’s letters, which might have supplied students and followers alike with extra particulars concerning the writer and her life. There are numerous theories as to why Cassandra selected to destroy them, together with stopping detrimental scrutiny of Jane and desirous to protect her sister’s legacy.
The collection, just like the guide, makes an attempt to recast Cassandra extra positively, alongside together with her motive for destroying Jane’s letters, which incorporates retaining them away from members of the family just like the sly Mary Austen (performed by Jessica Hynes), who was married to James Austen, brother to Cassandra and Jane. We additionally see flashbacks of younger Cassandra (Synnøve Karlsen) and Jane (Patsy Ferran) because the occasions within the letters come to life, revealing their true nature.
The story is generally set in Kintbury, a village in Hampshire, England, the place Hornby has resided for greater than 30 years and the place she first realized about Cassandra. “I feel that Cassandra found me,” she mentioned.
Whereas the letters are central to the drama, “Miss Austen” can also be about Cassandra and her fiancé, Tom Fowle (Calam Lynch), whose household resided in Kintbury. He died of yellow fever throughout a voyage to the Caribbean, and Cassandra by no means married.
Tom Fowle, performed by Calam Lynch in “Miss Austen,” was betrothed to Cassandra Austen.
(Robert Viglasky / Bonnie Productions and Masterpiece)
“I knew that she [Cassandra] was there on the last Christmas that they had together, and that she went down to our gate at dawn on a January morning and said goodbye to Tom and never saw him again,” Hornby mentioned. “And she began slightly to haunt me because I’ve always been quite obsessed about those women in history.”
It’s a notable time to rethink Cassandra’s function in Jane’s life: This yr marks the 250th anniversary of Jane’s delivery. Hornby mentioned it was Cassandra who gave Jane the power to provide “six of the greatest novels in the English language” by taking good care of her when she was sick and operating the family so Jane might write. And two and a half centuries later, Jane’s tales proceed to thrill readers and encourage creators like Hornby and Langan.
“She wrote about what it’s like to have a mom, a sister, to fall in love, have a roof over your head, what the weather’s like and how annoying the neighbors are — all stuff we all still do,” Hornby mentioned. “She speaks to us in a way that none of her contemporaries do.”
“And she’s fantastically funny,” Langan provides.
Imagining the Austens and their lives has been fruitful territory for Hornby, whose subsequent works, “Godmersham Park” and the upcoming novel “The Elopement,” slated for launch within the U.Ok. in Might and within the U.S. in October, are also centered on the household.
And Hornby’s partnership with Langan will proceed; the producer has already optioned “The Elopement.”
This yr additionally marks the thirtieth anniversary of the TV adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice” that starred Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle and the twentieth anniversary of the movie model, with Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFadyen. (Netflix just lately greenlighted a restricted collection too.) “Miss Austen” additionally accommodates references the novel — making the present’s premiere this yr really feel like a full-circle second.
“It’s so fascinating that she’s still going,” Hornby mentioned. “She’s very much a posthumous success, and she really wanted success. She was clever enough to know that what she was writing was really good.”
