Two Inches of Ivory

One snowy Christmas, tucked away in a rural Hampshire rectory, Mrs Austen gives birth to her seventh child. From her birth to her untimely death Jane’s path to becoming a successful novelist is constantly choked by unpredictable circumstances. It is a time of war with Napoleon’s France, in which three of her brothers serve. The war takes its toll with the spectre of poverty forcing the Austens to give up their beloved family home for a cramped apartment in Bath. She fails to find a publisher for her three novels and falls into despondency. With the Regency in 1811, changes in taste bring new hope. Jane’s novels are published and become famous. Her biggest fan is the Prince Regent himself, but he is an odious character whom Jane loathes, yet who invites her to dedicate her new novel Emma to himself. Should she hold on to her hard-fought principle of female independence, or acquiesce to gain financial security for her family? An excited market, including Lord Byron, is enthralled by this new anonymous “lady” author who is the first to write about feelings and human relations. Questions about love, marriage, freedom for women are continually thrown up; but her darkest, yet comedic, thoughts are not revealed until her final hours.