Is Miss Austen based on a true story?

Through two timelines, we follow Cassandra as she seeks to return to Kintbury to retrieve letters that her sister penned as a young woman and then we're also transported to when Cassy and Jane would wile away their time writing, painting and joking around as siblings do.

With near-misses at romantic loves of their own, as well as grief that struck their family, Miss Austen maps out more to the author than many people may know.

But how much of Miss Austen is fact versus fiction? Read on for everything you need to know about the true story behind the new BBC series.

Is Miss Austen based on a true story?

The plain answer is... kind of.

The new BBC drama is based on the book of the same name by Gill Hornby who uses some grounding in historical fact, but also reimagines what could have happened to lead Cassandra to burn Jane's letters.

Speaking about the main story at the heart of Miss Austen, executive producer Christine Langan said: "Miss Austen is about Jane Austen’s sister, Cassandra, principally.

"Notoriously after Jane’s death, Cassandra burnt many of her letters. Gill Hornby’s book and the adaptation pursue what might have been in those letters, and in so doing they unravel this very crucial, sustaining relationship between the sisters, without which Jane never would have written her novels."

On using the book as the basis for the series, series writer Andrea Gibb also said: "What Gill Hornby has done in her amazing book that we’ve adapted, is pull together all of the historical facts that we have about Jane and her family set-up, and fashion it into this amazing story of the bond between those two sisters and their importance to each other.

"The main thrust of the story takes place after Jane has died, when Cassandra goes back to a place that was very important in their lives – Kintbury – the home of the Fowle family. Cassandra returns to retrieve some letters of Jane’s before the house is turned over.

"When Cassandra finds these letters, she feels the need to protect her sister due to the outpouring of honesty and rawness within them. This takes us back in time into all these episodes in Jane and Cassandra’s past where we see their romances, Jane becoming a novelist and their lovely family."

Speaking at a screening for the series, Gibb said: “The book is fantastic. It's an amazing piece of writing and work. Christine Langan sent it to me when it was still in manuscript. So, we sort of had it before anyone else got a look at her, which is what good producers do, obviously.

"I read it and I just thought this is amazing. I think Jane Austen is in Gill's DNA actually, she just understands it, she gets it and she is it really, and it's so subtle. The book is amazing and the opportunity to work with these fantastic women, obviously also.

"There's something about the book which opens Jane Austen up to the world, you know, I didn't know anything about the letters, about it being burnt before I read this book."

She added: "So, the fact that there's this mystery at heart of it and Gill still takes it apart and offers us a theory and she lets us inside Cassandra's head. We sort of understand the sister who’s been vilified, sometimes, by history. So, the idea that we could redeem her in some way, I think is incredibly attractive to writers.”

In terms of specific plot points – and be warned: spoilers for the real-life story about Miss Austen are ahead – Cassandra was engaged to be married to Thomas Fowle as depicted in the series. In reality, Cassandra and Jane's father George had brought in extra income by tutoring pupils hoping to attend Oxford university.

One of his former pupils was Thomas but after getting engaged to Cassandra, Thomas went on an expedition with his cousin General Lord Craven to serve as chaplain. But while on the expedition, Thomas caught yellow fever and died in 1797. Cassandra inherited some money from him but remained unmarried for the entirety of her life, like her sister Jane.

Speaking about the connection between the Fowles and Austens, Gibb explained: "Eliza Fowle was married to Fulwar Fowle, the patriarch of the family, and they have three daughters: Mary-Jane, Beth, and Isabella. Jane and Cassandra were best friends with Eliza in childhood and that's how they know the Fowle family.

"Additionally, when Cassandra was younger, she was engaged to be married to Tom Fowle, Fulwar’s brother, so there are interconnecting links between the families because of that and life-long friendships are formed. The Fowles were incredibly important in Jane and Cassandra’s lives."

Miss Austen will air on BBC One and iPlayer from Sunday 2nd February 2025.

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