DIARY
JANE AUSTEN: THE DOCUMENTARY
Hand bearing quill pen writing scratchily on crusty paper, grandfather clock ticking in background.
VOICEOVER: Jane Austen is Britain’s most celebrated female novelist. She left behind timeless masterpieces, revealing the inner lives of men and women in a way that still speaks to us today. But getting into her own mind isn’t easy…
Old lady leafing through a stack of letters by a log fire.
…In her lifetime, Austen wrote thousands of letters to her beloved sister Cassandra, sharing her innermost thoughts. But after Jane’s death, at the age of just 41, her sister burned them.
Old lady chucks stack into fire.
PAULA BYRNE: It’s literally impossible to imagine what it was like to throw all those literally brilliant letters onto that fire. So many feelings must have been running around Cassandra’s head at that moment. She’s feeling love. Anger. Rage. Love. Anger. Rage. You name it. The lot.