MAY/JUNE 2025
It is a truth often acknowledged that a lover of great storytelling and breathtaking production values and awaits a new MASTERPIECE series airing on PBS. Miss Austen will definitely fit the bill.
in the wrong hands, she fears could destroy Jane’s reputation.
Years after Jane Austen’s death in 1817, her sister Cassandra, to whom Jane had written most days when they were apart, burned almost all of her letters. Miss Austen takes this notorious literary mystery and reimagines it as a fascinating, witty, and heartbreaking story of sisterly love. The narrative weaves a bit of intrigue through its flashbacks and scenes of Cassandra’s later life, raising questions: Why didn’t Jane or Cassandra marry? How did Jane navigate being a female writer? Why did Cassandra ultimately set her sister’s letters ablaze? The four-part drama begins many years after Jane has died. Cassandra rushes to visit Isabella, the niece of her long-dead fiancé, who is about to lose her home following her father’s death. Cassandra is ostensibly there to help Isabella. Her real motive is to find a hidden bundle of private letters that,
On discovering them, Cassandra is overwhelmed as she is transported back to her youth. There we meet young Cassy and Jane as they navigate the romantic infatuations, family feuds, and dashed hopes that shaped their lives. Picture Elinor and Marianne in Sense and Sensibility or Elizabeth and Jane in Pride and Prejudice. Miss Austen is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Gill Hornby. The star-studded cast, led by Keeley Hawes (The Durrells in Corfu) as Cassandra Austen and Rose Leslie (Downton Abbey) as Isabella Fowle, will thrill viewers throughout this magnificent production. “It’s like another Austen novel,” says series star Keeley Hawes. Miss Austen will air in four episodes starting Sunday, May 4. The timing is nothing less than thrilling since 2025 also marks 250 years since Jane Austen was born. Watch on Sunday nights, from May 4 – 25 at 9 p.m. on VPM PBS.
VPM.org