Jane Austen was born in 1775 at Steventon Rectory in Hampshire. She wrote her first when she was fourteen. In 1796 she began work on First Impressions - later to become Pride and Prejudice, her favourite work. This novel by the author of Sense and Sensibility was not published  until January 1813 in an edition of about 1,500 copies. So popular was Jane's book, that the Prince of Wales kept specially bound sets of her novels in each of his homes. Jane died on 18 July 1817 at the age of 42 and is buried in Winchester Cathedral, Pride and Prejudice, her most popular and widely translated work, continues to be one of few books written that has never gone out of print.

Performed 29 & 30 November 2002 at Forest Community Centre, Walthamstow