Jane Austen: Fact or Fiction with Gill Hornby

Gill Hornby, author of three novels based on Jane Austen themes and a biography for young readers will be in conversation with Jane Tapley, Special Events Organiser at the theatre as part of the Jane Austen Festival celebrations for the 250th anniversary of Austen’s birth.

She will talk about her love of Austen and what inspired her to write her books. All of them - Godmersham Park, Miss Austen and The Elopement have become best sellers and highly praised by the literary world.

Miss Austen has recently been made into a series by the BBC, broadcast in February 2025.

This is a wonderfully original, emotionally complex novel that delves into why Cassandra burned a treasure trove of letters written by her sister Jane - an act of destruction that has troubled academics for centuries.

Gill came to novel writing later in life when her four children had matured, and has established herself as a successful writer alongside her brother Nick Hornby and her husband Robert Harris.

Miss Austen "So good,  intelligent, so clever, so entertaining - I  adored it" Claire Tomalin

"A pitch perfect novel, fond and atmospheric” Kirsty Wark