Gill Hornby

Gill Hornby on The Elopement

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, we are thrilled to announce an evening with Gill Hornby, whose Miss Austen has just launched as a four-part BBC adaptation starring Keeley Hawes as Cassandra Austen. She will be discussing her newest work of historical fiction, The Elopement.

'It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.'

1820. Mary Dorothea Knatchbull is living under the sole charge of her widowed father, Sir Edward - a man of strict principles and high Christian values.

But when her father marries Miss Fanny Knight of Godmersham Park, Mary's life is suddenly changed.

Her new stepmother comes from a large, happy and sociable family and Fanny's sisters become Mary's first friends. Her aunt, Miss Cassandra Austen of Chawton, is especially kind. Her brothers are not only amusing, but handsome and charming.

And as Mary Dorothea starts to bloom into a beautiful young woman, she forms an especial bond with one Mr Knight in particular.

Soon, they are deeply in love and determined to marry. They expect no opposition. After all, each is from a good family and has known the other for some years.

It promises to be the most perfect match. Who would want to stand in their way?

Gill Hornby is the author of the novels The Hive and All Together Now, as well as The Story of Jane Austen, a biography of Austen for young readers. Her subsequent novels, Miss Austen and Godmersham Park, were Sunday Times bestsellers, and Miss Austen will be a four-part BBC adaptation starring Keeley Hawes as Cassandra Austen. She lives in West Berkshire with her husband and their four children.