Unapologetic Reviews

I have always thought of Persuasion as a slightly sad book, even before I started reading it. It is Jane Austen ’s last completed novel, and it carries that quiet finality with it. There is a story I once heard, and I think about it every time. None of her books were published under her name while she was alive. First it was “By a Lady”, then “By the Author of Sense and Sensibility”. Her name never appeared. When Persuasion was finally published, together with Northanger Abbey , there was a foreword explaining that the author had died, written by her brother, Henry. I always imagine a reader at the time, happily buying a new book by their favourite writer, opening it with excitement, and then learning in that moment that she was gone. That was also the moment when they learned her name. That image never quite leaves me. The book itself is one of Austen’s shorter works. The audiobook runs about eight hours in full, which makes it feel almost slight next to something like Emma . Yet des...

Emma by Jane Austen is the fourth novel I have started for my self imposed Year of Austen . A year that was meant to be 2025 and is very clearly bleeding into 2026.  After abandoning Mansfield Park out of sheer boredom, I decided to change tactics. I listened to Emma as a full cast audio drama , complete with background music and sound design, and that decision made all the difference. I wanted to enjoy myself again. At its core, Emma is a social comedy about confidence curdling into arrogance. Emma Woodhouse is twenty one, wealthy, clever, and comfortably installed as the centre of her small community. She is unmarried, not particularly interested in changing that, and sees herself as a benevolent organiser of other people’s lives. She holds court. People defer to her. She assumes she understands everyone better than they understand themselves. It is the perfect setup for mistakes, and Austen wastes no time letting Emma make them. Emma’s self appointed role as matchmaker give...

Pride and Prejudice is the second novel published by Jane Austen , and it is without question her most famous. It has become one of those cultural cornerstones that most people know even without having read it. You would be hard-pressed to find someone who has not at least seen one adaptation. For me, the definitive version will always be the BBC adaptation . I do not think there is a better one . This was actually my first time reading the novel itself, and I experienced it as an audiobook narrated by Rosamund Pike . I do feel a warning is necessary here. If you start with her version, you will be spoiled. Pike is an exceptional narrator. Her delivery is precise, expressive, and perfectly attuned to Austen’s irony . At times it feels less like a reading and more like a performance. It is hard not to wish she had narrated all of Austen’s novels. Honestly, she could read just about anything and I would listen. Pride and Prejudice is peak Austen. The characters are sharp and memorable,...

I started reading Jane Austen ’s Sense and Sensibility as a book but switched to an audiobook halfway through, listening to Karen Savage ’s version. My aim is to read all of Austen’s novels this year and watch the movie adaptations as part of my “ Year of Austen ” project, celebrating her 250th birthday . Sense and Sensibility was Austen’s first published work. It was originally intended to be an epistolary novel , a style where the story unfolds through characters' letters. Although Austen eventually moved away from that format, hints of it remain. Conversations are often reported rather than directly shown, giving the style a slight distance that can feel stark to modern readers. The story itself is overall positive but carries a distinct realism, especially regarding money matters. Elinor is the main character, and it’s largely through her eyes that we view the world. At 19, she is already remarkably mature: sober, fully aware of her place in society, and with few illusions. ...

Jane Austen was born on 16 Dec 1775. 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of her birth. Join me in celebrating by reading and watching media connected to her. Follow this schedule: Jane Austen: Behind Closed Doors Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley Becoming Jane (2007) Sense and Sensibility Sense and Sensibility (1995) Sense and Sensibility (2008) Pride and Prejudice Pride and Prejudice (1940) Pride and Prejudice (1995) Mansfield Park Mansfield Park (1999) Mansfield Park (2007) Emma Emma (1996) Emma (2009) Emma (2020) Northanger Abbey Northanger Abbey (2007) Persuasion Persuasion (1995) Persuasion (2007) Modern Persuasion (2020) Persuasion (2022) Miss Austen Regrets (2007) Miss Austen by Gill Hornby Miss Austen (2025-)