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Journalist and author
The Line of Thought
. . . to dream over books and loiter at street corners and let the line of thought dip deep into the stream.
--Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
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Hail and farewell
The first blog post I ever wrote about Jane Austen appeared here on February 4, 2013 , nearly thirteen years ago. Today’s post is my 1,354 th —and my last. I’m not wrapping up the blog because Jane Austen no longer makes waves. On the contrary: This next year is already shaping up to deliver the usual onslaught of Austen-related news: * Three new Austen-themed adaptations will hit screens large and small: The BBC’s ten-part series The Other Bennet Sister , based on a Pride
Deborah Yaffe
Dec 29, 2025


Jane on the airwaves
In her lifetime, Jane Austen may not have been as famous and revered as she deserved to be. But in death, she’s making up for lost time. Case in point: The BBC’s talk-radio programming schedule for the next two weeks, which looks, if you squint, like All Austen, All The Time . The soft opening took place back in early November, with the Radio 4 broadcast of a new two-part adaptation of Northanger Abbey. Over the weekend, the channel’s digital counterpart, Radio 4Extra, a
Deborah Yaffe
Dec 8, 2025


Scary stuff
Sixteen years ago, an up-and-coming young writer and a scrappy little Philadelphia publisher hit the jackpot with a simple recipe: Take eight parts out-of-copyright text of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice . Add two parts zombies. Combine. Count the money as it rolls in. I wasn’t a fan of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies , which felt to me like a one-note joke that outlasted its welcome long before Elizabeth and Darcy got hitched, and I liked the 2016 movie even less.
Deborah Yaffe
Nov 24, 2025


Pet peeve
About twenty-five minutes into Audible’s new audio adaptation of Pride and Prejudice , Sir William Lucas summons Elizabeth Bennet over for a chat. “Sir Lucas! Good evening,” she greets him. That sound you hear is the irritated grinding of my teeth. Mostly, I loved this adaptation. Sure, I could have done without the pop theme song and the occasional dialogic anachronism (“Bingley likes Jane a lot,” Charlotte Lucas says, sounding more like a twenty-first-century middle sch
Deborah Yaffe
Nov 3, 2025


Listen up, Part II
Jane Austen’s influence on Bridgerton is old news. If the whole feisty-Regency-heroines-in-marriage-plots thing didn’t give it away,...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 16, 2025


Listen up
No one knows how long we’ll have to wait to see the newest screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice , the buzzy Netflix version now filming in the UK. But the latest audio version of the novel, a four-and-a-half-hour adaptation with a full cast, dropped last month, and Audible celebrated by co-hosting a New York City bash—or, rather, a “ Luxe Pride and Prejudice Party . ” The party— naturally , it was “an immersive experience”—was held at a bar/restaurant with Victorian
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 13, 2025


Jane Austen fundraising
Jane Austen’s views on the international tragedies of her time are mostly unknown, except when they are brutally unsentimental. “How...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 9, 2025


Then and now
The new Netflix adaptation of Pride and Prejudice seems to be coming along nicely: Press outlets in the UK have breathlessly reported...
Deborah Yaffe
Sep 22, 2025


Coming of age
Say this for Jane Austen: She’s an inexhaustible source of roles for actresses who have aged out of the film industry’s ingenue...
Deborah Yaffe
Aug 28, 2025


Second springs
The inexhaustible well of creative inspiration that is Pride and Prejudice looks to be bubbling over once again. Whether you prefer to...
Deborah Yaffe
Aug 25, 2025


For sale
Few pastimes give me as much pleasure as the ogling of unaffordable real estate. It’s a bonus when said real estate has Jane Austen...
Deborah Yaffe
Aug 14, 2025


Girls on film
Three-quarters of the twenty-first century lies ahead of us, but already the New York Times is hard at work on clickbait Best of the...
Deborah Yaffe
Aug 4, 2025
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