When Jane Austen wrote that “to be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love”, she was writing of a world where dancing was the most important pastime for making the acquaintance of the opposite sex. A world of balls and assemblies, country dances and reels; a world where fun and flirtation were possible within a strict code of conduct. But what was the etiquette? What were the steps and how did Jane and her heroines fare on the dance floor?

“Christmas goes out in fine style – with Twelfth night. It is a finish worthy of the time. Christmas day was the morning of the season’ New Year’s day the middle of it, or noon; Twelfth night is the night, brilliant with innumerable planets of Twelfth-cakes”.
Leigh Hunt 1784-1859

Using opinions of the day, Austen family letters and excerpts from “Emma”, we get to experience a “Jane Austen” Christmas.

“Three of four families in a country village is the very thing to work on…..”. Jane Austen. 1814

Throughout her life, Jane Austen was a prolific writer of letters – to her family, friends and acquaintances. Sharing the minutiae of her everyday life, her thoughts and opinions, her wit and her humour.

Devised as a commemorative tribute for the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death in 1817, it’s an opportunity to hear Jane speak through the letters she wrote in the last months of her life.

“My sister Emily loved the moors. Flowers brighter than the rose bloomed in the blackest of the heath for her…she found in the bleak solitude many and dear delights; and not the least and best-loved was — liberty. Liberty was the breath of Emily’s nostrils; without it she perished”. Charlotte Brontë

Emily Bronte 1818 – 1848 was a member of one of the most famous literary families in English literature. Using material contained in “The Life of Charlotte Brontë” by Elizabeth Gaskell, the few remaining diary papers written by Emily and her sisters and then her published work – her poetry and the magnificent Wuthering Heights; this spoken word performance evokes something of her world, her work and tragically short life.

An evocative, spoken interpretation of Joan Lindsay’s classic Australian novel. Recounted as a recollection from the French Mistress, Mme de Poitiers, with all the voices that made the original novel so special.

As Miranda always said….”everything begins and ends at exactly the right time and place”.

As a narrator of audio books, I’ve recorded many over the years. But two books in particular have stayed in my mind, long after the recordings were finished. Both looking back at the experiences of those who served in WW1 and those who stayed behind. Both looking forward to a world without war. Two distinctive voices; one Australian in “The Anzacs” by Patsy Adam-Smith and one British in “Testament of Youth” by Vera Brittain. Heard together, they make for a remarkably moving experience.