Lost in Austen I

There’s a treat in store for Austen fans – they can lose themselves in the pages of the ‘new look’ Jane Austen's Regency World. In this month’s issue, you can read my feature on three women caught up in the maelstrom of Revolutionary France. Madame Roland, Théroigne de Méricourt and Charlotte Corday were supporters of the Girondins or ‘moderate’ republicans in the National Assembly. They lived incredibly different lives to Austen. The sabre-wielding Théroigne de Méricourt met a tragic end; Charlotte Corday slew the merciless Marat, and Mme Roland, like Charlotte, bravely faced death by guillotine. Austen, of course, was no stranger to the Reign of Terror - her cousin Eliza Hancock’s first husband, the Comte de Feuillide, was guillotined in 1794.

The Austen bandwagon continues with ITV’s ‘Lost in Austen’, which I'm hoping to watch tonight. L’aimable Jane must be revolving at warp speed in her grave at the thought of all the TV and film royalties she’s missed out on. Regency romp or Regency rip-off? What do you think?

Image: Madame Roland, History Of England, Charles Knight, Volume VII. (London, 1868.)
As Madame Roland awaited execution, she cried: ‘O Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name!’