A Season of Austen

Emma aired on ABC 1 last night as the starter to a season of English novelist Jane Austen's works on Sunday nights at 8.30pm. For fans of British spy drama, Spooks keep an eye out for Rupert Penry-Jones appearing in the upcoming classic Persuasion as the dashing Captain Wentworth, screening on June 8 with Sally Hawkins as Anne Elliot. It is a story of second chance featuring a love letter to turn things around. Then it will be Northanger Abbey on June 15 and Mansfield Park on June 22. And for more on Austen tune into The Letters of Jane Austen as part of the Book Show on Radio National weekdays at 10.45am from 2  6 June. The first three episodes are devoted to letters to her sister Cassandra, episode four concentrates on letters to her brother James and in episode five hear her words of advice and affection to her niece Fanny. Austen remains one of the most widely read and popular of English novelists. Her books are noted for biting social commentary that highlights the situation of women in the nineteenth century. What a feast of Austen!