Gill Hornby's novel was based on the remaining Jane Austen letters and switches the focus to sister Cassandra, played later in life by Keeley Hawes and earlier by Synnøve Karlsen, both rather good. She has turned down a marriage offer from a Henry Hobday (Max Irons) because she promised her now-dead betrothed she would never marry anyone else. (And also, we feel, to be an ally for Jane (Patsy Ferran) who we doubt will marry.)
The villain of the piece is the sister-in-law Mary, played well by Jessica Hynes and Liv Hill. And the girl being evicted is Rose Leslie, who we know best from two seasons of Vigil.
Interesting faces in four part BBC drama, most enjoyable. The one I couldn't really remember was Persuasion. Must watch that again (the 2022 Dakota Johnson version has very mixed reviews), and Emma.
Director Aisling Walsh. Music by Dominik Scherrer (pleased to see he's still going), DP Si Bell - oh, Si Bell! Lovely candle-lit stuff. Editor Alex Mackie (1 & 3), Anne Sopel (2 & 4).
Hornby is Nick's sister. She attributes their writing careers to having divorced parents in the 60s and 70s, something that was then unusual, that made them outsiders but also observers; and being dropped off at the local library every Saturday morning.
We didn't really get from it why Cassie destroyed most of her sister's letters but the thinking is it was to protect her inner secrets, her privacy, particularly with regard to her periods of dark depression.
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