1995 was 30 years ago. Let that sink in. That was the year of the revival of Jane Austen. BBC released the hugely popular adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, there were movie versions of Persuasion (with Amanda Root) and Sense and Sensibility (directe...

During a coaching series there’s always a point where something unexpected happens, often it’s accompanied by the client feeling unmotivated / wanting to quit. I get it. You’ve been working on making your life better then something goes wrong, and it...

Cher is clueless about her feelings for Josh – just as her regency counterpart, Emma, is clueless about her feelings for Mr Knightley. Emma is unaware that her determination not to marry is because she’s in love with Mr Knightley, her heart is reserv...

This weekend I participated in a discussion with JASNA Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho Region entitled “What a man should be” based off this quote from Emma: “So unlike what a man should be!—None of that upright integrity, that strict adherence...

We’re awkwardly aware of the age gap between Mr Knightley and Emma – 16 years makes us uncomfortable. It gets worse when Harriet develops a crush, a full 20 years, making Mr Knightley more eligible to be her father than her husband. His companions ar...

Lady Susan has an amazing ability to waltz into a situation and mess it up for everyone. Mrs Mainwaring loves her husband who loves Lady Susan, she is “insupportably jealous and so enraged against” Lady Susan that it is “time for (her) to be gone.” S...

RNZ “Afternoons” 27 March 2025 I was interviewed on the Radio! My thoughts:

Sunday Star Times 23/3/25 In the more than 200 years since Jane Austen published, people and society haven’t changed all that much (even though I’m writing this on a computer rather than with a quill). She may be dead, but the patriarchy (sadly) isn’...

Review of the Melissa Nathan novel Jasmin Field is, almost accidentally, cast as Elizabeth Bennet on stage after she uses her anger at being called the “ugly sister” to give the director (famous actor Harry Noble) a telling off (still on script) duri...

John Dashwood is an arse. It’s his responsibility, as a male and head of the family, to support the females as they are unable to work. He shirks his responsibility partly because he’s selfish, partly because his wife is selfish, and partly potential...