Gill Hornby: 'We've misunderstood Jane Austen's novels'
Miss Austen hits our screens this week – a new BBC TV drama adapted from Gill Hornby's novel of the same name.
It tells the story of Jane Austen's older sister, Cassandra (played by Keeley Hawes) who famously destroyed the private letters of her literary sister, following her death.
To mark the arrival of the show – as well as Jane Austen's 250th anniversary – we talk to author Gill about books, bonnets and broken hearts – and her own illustrious literary family...
This year is the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. Why are we still obsessed by all things Austen?
I think it’s because her books are still relevant. We have mothers and sisters, we fall in love, we have our hearts broken, we crave financial security, we care who are neighbours are. So many Austen nuts aren’t familiar with the texts, but they are with the plots, characters and best lines. Jane wouldn’t object; she’d be thrilled with films like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
Your novel Miss Austen about Cassandra, Jane’s elder sister, has recently been adapted for TV. How did she come into your life?
When my husband [the author Robert Harris] and I moved into our home in the Berkshire village of Kintbury 32 years ago, we discovered that it was on the site where Cassandra’s fiancé Thomas Fowle had once lived. Cassandra spent her first Christmas away from her family here when she was about 19, waved Thomas goodbye from our gate as he set off on the military expedition that would claim his life and continued visiting into her dotage. I was haunted by her wandering about the place.
Do you think Cassandra might have had a unjustified bad rap?
About ten years later, I was researching my first book on Jane, a biography for children, and was shocked to learn that Cassandra had often been berated for burning many of Jane’s letters. Her nieces and nephews had also thought she was dull compared to sparkling Aunt Jane. I didn’t think that was fair. The surviving letters show that Cassandra was handsome, smart and funny. The sisters worshipped each other. Cassandra refused a second proposal, dedicating her life to creating the peace and domestic contentment Jane needed to write six of the greatest ever novels. Jane died in Cassandra’s arms aged 41. I was furious that Cassandra had been so badly misrepresented and wanted to change how we see her. Miss Austen is really a propaganda novel. To have it adapted for TV and to be a consultant on the series is a dream come true.
What about Jane? Is there anything we’ve got wrong about her?
We’ve misunderstood her novels. With Pride and Prejudice we think, “Five daughters in a pretty house, what larks ahead!” But the contemporary woman would have thought, “Five daughters to marry off or face possible destitution, what’s Mrs Bennet to do?” People see Mr Bennet as the hero, because he’s often played by twinkly eyed actors who come out with witty lines. But it’s Mrs Bennet who sorts everything out. No wonder she’s so nervous all the time.
Jane would always read her latest chapter to Cassandra. You’re married to the novelist Robert Harris and your brother is the novelist and screenwriter Nick Hornby. Are you collaborative or competitive?
Robert and I are each other’s first readers. Day-to-day, we meet at the kettle, talk about how many words we’ve written and where we’re stuck. Robert always talks about tricky bits to which I respond, “You say that every day. It can’t all be tricky.” A male interviewer once asked me if I’d really written my novels given who my husband and brother were. I said, ‘Why haven’t you asked me if I’d written theirs?’
Has Jane Austen influenced you?
Absolutely. I didn’t start writing novels until my fifties and had no clue about where to start, but Jane had a mantra: three or four families and a village is all you need. It’s so true. Soaps like EastEnders are all about that, as are the novels I love by writers such as Anne Tyler and Elizabeth Strout. Jane has also taught me the importance of using humour in your writing and that characters can be good but flawed. She’s given me my blueprint.
Any advice for burgeoning midlife novelists?
Give it a go! Life can be a series of chapters – just because you’re an accountant doesn’t mean you can’t be an opera singer. Jane wrote that it’s impossible to compose with a head “full of joints of mutton and doses of rhubarb”. I’m the same. Even though my four children have flown the nest, I can’t write if I’m worrying about one of them. If now isn’t the time for you to write, it doesn’t mean you’re not cut out for it.
The Austen sisters visited Kintbury throughout their lives. The local area must be such an inspiration…
Jane and Cassandra described themselves as “desperate walkers” and you don’t have to go far to get into the deep countryside where much of the landscape is unchanged. I often think about them on my dog walks. Cassandra’s dog would go with her manservant to collect milk and carry the pail home in his mouth. Nature was the drumbeat of their lives – battling with the weather, the harvest, picking the fruit, bottling, pickling, preserving. There are pubs and cottages in the village that they would have known too, which is wonderful.
Miss Austen is on BBC iPlayer. Gill’s latest novel The Elopement is out on May 22
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Visit the Country Living Pavilion at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show this year. Get your tickets here.
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Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire
There have been 35 film and TV productions here, including Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Black Beauty.
Hatfield House, Hertfordshire
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Hatfield House, Hertfordshire
There have been 34 film and TV productions here, including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Batman Begins and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Knebworth House, Hertfordshire
There have been 27 film and TV productions here, including Batman, Paddington 2 and Eyes Wide Shut.
Luton Hoo House, Bedfordshire
There have been 31 film and TV productions here, including The World is Not Enough, Four Weddings and a Funeral and War Horse.
Knebworth House, Hertfordshire
There have been 27 film and TV productions here, including Batman, Paddington 2 and Eyes Wide Shut.
Chavenage House, Gloucestershire
There have been 21 film and TV productions here, including Poldark, Lark Rise to Candleford and Tess of the D'Ubervilles.
Chavenage House, Gloucestershire
There have been 21 film and TV productions here, including Poldark, Lark Rise to Candleford and Tess of the D'Ubervilles.
Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire
There have been 20 film and TV productions here, includingSherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Queen and The Counselor.
Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire
There have been 20 film and TV productions here, includingSherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Queen and The Counselor.
Chatsworth House, Derbyshire
There have been 19 film and TV productions here, including Jane Eyre (2011), Pride and Prejudice (2005) and The Duchess.
Ham House, Greater London
There have been 18 film and TV productions here, including Sense & Sensibility, John Carter and Victoria and Abdul.
Chatsworth House, Derbyshire
There have been 19 film and TV productions here, including Jane Eyre (2011), Pride and Prejudice (2005) and The Duchess.
Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire
There have been 35 film and TV productions here, including Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Black Beauty.
Ham House, Greater London
There have been 18 film and TV productions here, including Sense & Sensibility, John Carter and Victoria and Abdul.
Hampton Court Palace
There have been 35 film and TV productions here, including Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Black Beauty.
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