Miss Austen
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Miss Austen
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Narrated by:
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Juliet Stevenson
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By:
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Gill Hornby
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
The Sunday Times bestselling novel, soon to be a major series on BBC One and BBC iPlayer starring Keeley Hawes in 2025.
Throughout her lifetime, Jane Austen wrote countless letters to her sister. But why did Cassandra burn them all?
1840: twenty three years after the death of her famous sister Jane, Cassandra Austen returns to the village of Kintbury, and the home of her family's friends, the Fowles.
She knows that, in some dusty corner of the sprawling vicarage, there is a cache of family letters which hold secrets she can never allow to be revealed.
As Cassandra recalls her youth and her relationship with her brilliant yet complex sister, she pieces together buried truths about Jane's history, and her own. And she faces a stark choice: should she act to protect Jane's reputation, or leave the contents of the letters to go unguarded into posterity?
Based on a literary mystery that has long puzzled biographers and academics, Miss Austen is a wonderfully original and emotionally complex novel about the loves and lives of Cassandra and Jane Austen.
'You can't help feeling that Jane would have approved.' Observer
'So good, so intelligent, so clever, so entertaining - I adored it.' Claire Tomalin
'Celebrates unexamined lives, sisterhood and virtues such as kindness and loyalty' Sunday Times
© Gill Hornby 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
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What listeners say about Miss Austen
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Helen M.
- 26-12-23
Excellent
An excellent read. I enjoyed every minute and felt completely immersed in Austen territory. Thank you.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gabrielle Harvey-Jones
- 22-10-24
Absolutely loved it!
Jane Austen has been my favourite author since I first read her works in my early teens and I had no expectation of liking this book. How wrong I was! Wonderfully written and superbly performed, the whole thing was a complete joy!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Carrie-Anne Lavender
- 09-07-20
Austen herself would be proud
What an exquisitely enjoyable book. The writing was beautiful and Austenesque with excellent eccentric characters and believable and realistic portrayals of Jane and Cassandra. Juliet Stevenson's narration was impeccable and gave life to the characters within. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mo Bass
- 03-06-24
Beautiful but melancholy
The guarding of a beloved sister's reputation and the succour of close relatives is the theme of this beautifully written and narrated book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- G. Walton
- 18-04-21
Brilliant book, brilliantly executed
Loved it.. brought the characters to life and presented a very believable life story and explained clearly why Cassie burnt the letters.. altogether a lovely piece of work.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nicole Andrews
- 25-07-23
Loved it
What started out as an unpromising tale of old biddies turned into a beautiful complex telling. Imagined and written with the reviving of Jane Austen's clever sarcasm, a necessary conversational style when dealing with the Mary's of this world. Lovely accounts of the family's dynamics and a sub plot revealing the woven experience of Jane Austen's life and the inspirations for her novels.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 08-03-20
Pitch Perfect and the private story that rings true to me.
Not as rich and witty a storyteller as Jane Austen, but as Casandra’s story, it rings true. Written with a love and respect that can hold no fears for those who cherish the work and life of Jane Austen.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- sue Sargent
- 01-11-22
great!
this was recommended to me by a Austen fan, as am I, I have read the book of the letters between Cassandra and Jane, it was fascinating to listen to it.
enjoyable, great narration of all the different characters.
I would listen again in case I missed bits.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Roisin
- 21-05-21
Insights and interesting
Some insight to what I imagine Jane’s life was like and the narrator was so skilled it kept me listening and interested.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- By Leigh Louw
- 01-12-24
Authentic. Beautifully written.
Authentic and plausible coverage of the period, the Austen family, and the possible events (which are still shrouded in mystery). Very well researched. It's beautifully written and the main characters are highly believable. References to the Austen novels are subtly done. The author treats the Austen sisters with respect and empathy.
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