Charlie Fenton’s Reviews > Miss Austen > Status Update

“Stairs can be dangerous - wicked things - always said so. To be used at one’s peril. That is why I sleep downstairs.”

Always felt the same xD never liked stairs

‘Since the week they moved in here, Jane had, as her sister had hoped, returned to her manuscripts. First, she revised Elinor and Marianne, which became Sense and Sensibility and - oh joy! - found a publisher and had sold really quite well. At the urging of the household, First Impressions was next to receive her attentions. With its new title of Pride and Prejudice, that was doing even better.’

“Indeed, no one can find any sort of fault with your Mr Hobday. It seems he is the very model of masculine perfection. The universe has met and agreed upon it. It is all most infuriating.” Jane sighed. “You know that, as a woman of many faults, I abhor faultlessness in others. What is there to be done with them if they cannot change or improve?”

“When your Aunt Jane was still with us and enjoying her little burst of success, there came a few vultures who liked to feed on any scraps of her life. The stories were not enough for them. They wanted the facts about her, and she was not minded to share them. As her novels live on - and I hope and believe they will do - there may well be more in the future. We must be very mindful of what we leave out for them“

‘Cassandra was the executor of her sister’s estate: the keeper of her flame; the protector of her legacy. In the time that was left to her, she was determined to find and destroy any evidence that might compromise Jane’s reputation. It was simply imperative that those letters did not fall into the wrong hands.’