Miss Austen episode 1 recap: doomed love

Miss Austen is based on Gill Hornby's best-selling novel and takes a fictional look at why Cassandra Austen may have destroyed the letters of her sister Jane. The four-part drama, starring Keeley Hawes as Cassandra, explores how, in the 1830s, the spirited spinster tries to retrieve Jane’s correspondence and keep it a secret from prying eyes, in order to preserve the author's legacy. But as Cassandra reads the letters, they remind her of the choices she has made in the past and her own painful romantic history…

As the drama kicks off in 1830, Cassandra Austen (Keeley Hawes) is at her Hampshire home reading her late sister Jane's novel "Persuasion" and feeding her goats. But she soon receives a letter from her family friend Isabella Fowle (Rose Leslie), who lives in Kintury, Berkshire, and whose late mother Eliza was very close to Cassandra and Jane. Isabella reveals that her father, the Reverend Fulwar Fowle (Felix Scott) is dying, but she urges Cassandra not to come to Kintbury and inconvenience herself by visiting them.

Cassandra however, is a woman on a mission! She tells her maid she is off on "urgent business" because Kintbury’s rectory contains certain items of a personal nature… She arrives in the pouring rain, to the surprise of Isabella and her tetchy maid Dinah (Mirren Mack). And a reluctant Isabella lets Cassandra see Fulwar, as he is being treated by local surgeon Mr Lidderdale (Alfred Enoch), who clearly has some history with Isabella based on the looks they are giving each other…

Fulwar tells Cassandra that he wants her to ensure that Isabella goes to live with her sisters after his death and she agrees. Later, Cassandra creeps out of her bedroom during the night, but she is caught by a suspicious Dinah and has to pretend she is lost... What is she up to?

By morning, Fulwar has passed away and Cassandra offers to help a tearful Isabella with any arrangements. As we cut to the funeral, which only men can attend, the women are watching from the rectory window. Alongside Cassandra and Isabella and her sisters, is Mary Austen (Jessica Hynes), who is Eliza’s sister and Isabella’s aunt, but also the sister-in-law of Cassandra and Jane, as she was married to their brother. And we subsequently see Mr Lidderdale outside talking to Isabella’s sister Beth (Clare Foster)...

Isabella then gets a visit from oily vicar Mr Dundas (Thomas Coombes), who will be the next incumbent of the rectory and is thrilled when he learns that Cassandra is Jane Austen’s sister, as he is a huge fan. But he gets Cassandra’s back up when he clearly doesn’t know Jane’s work as well as he makes out. And he also says there should be a biography revealing the "real" Jane, but a terse Cassandra says all anyone needs to know is in her novels.

Isabella gets a shock, however, when Dr Dundas says he wants to move in with his family in a fortnight, so she will have to pack up and leave. Cassandra tries to protest on her behalf, but to no avail, and she offers to stay as long as she is needed to help Isabella with the removals. When Mr Dundas is gone, Mary also raises the idea of a possible Austen biography of her late husband James, who was also a writer, but with maybe a small mention of Jane! She believes her talented son could write it and says that she will therefore take care of her sister Eliza’s private correspondence, which should contain lots of "treasures", because Eliza and Jane wrote to each other a lot…

An anxious Cassandra tries to put Mary off and we see her subsequently creep off upstairs to look in Eliza’s old room for the letters, which she eventually finds in a chest and she sneaks them out to read.

One letter that Cassandra reads provokes a flashback to 1797, when the young Jane (Patsy Ferran) and Cassy (Synnøve Karlsen) are heading to see Eliza (Madeleine Walker) and Fulwar in Kintbury, with their parents Mr and Mrs Austen (Kevin McNally and Phyllis Logan). Soon after their arrival, Fulwar’s dashing brother Tom (Calam Lynch), a curate, who has clearly adored Cassy for years, asks her to marry him, which she gladly accepts. When she tells Jane and Eliza, Jane jokes that Cassy is abandoning her but Cassy tries to reassure her.

Back in 1830, Dinah is eager for Cassandra to head home, but she insists on staying to make sure Isabella is settled with her sisters.

Then, in flashbacks again, as the families gather together, Fulwar announces the engagement. But to Cassy’s horror, he also reveals that Tom has a patron, Lord Craven, who has asked Tom to join an expedition with him to the West Indies. Cassy clearly had no idea about this but Tom tells her he is doing it for their future as Lord Craven will ensure they get their own vicarage and they will be set for life. But he will be gone for a year and has to leave in a fortnight. Cassy then confides in Jane who says that love comes at a price and that Tom has to make their fortune but all will be well.

As Tom and Cassy later wander into the local church speculating about the family they will have, Tom says he has made a will and that he is leaving the bulk of his money to her because she has pledged herself to him so she should be cared for. But if he doesn’t return, he doesn’t want her to feel beholden to his memory and she should feel free to marry another. Rather ominously, Cassy promises before God that she will never marry any other man…

Back in 1830 again, Isabella is upset at having to move out sooner than expected as it is the only home she has known and now she will be alone. But Cassandra reassures her she will be with her sisters and it’s what her father wanted as his dying wish, but Isabella wants to put her own feelings first for once…

As flashbacks continue, the Austens are back at home in their rectory at Steventon, Hampshire and there is much excitement over the planning for Cassy and Tom’s wedding. Mrs Austen is delighted that Tom finally popped the question and is proud of her accomplished daughter, but she worries what will become of "poor Jane". But Mr Austen defends both of his daughters and says they are brilliant in different ways and that any man would be lucky to have either.

Meanwhile, Cassy and Jane’s niece Anna (Vivien Battley), the daughter of their widowed brother James (Patrick Knowles), seems to need a stepmother, and Mrs Austen suggests that perhaps Eliza’s sister Mary would be a good match. Despite Jane’s protests about Mary's suitability, Cassy agrees, as she wants everyone to be as happy as she is. At the local ball, we finally meet the anxious young Mary (Liv Hill), who is keen to win James’ hand but worries he has eyes for another and that she is not elegant enough. Jane clearly still has doubts but Cassy plunges ahead with her matchmaking and asks James to pay Mary some attention. And we soon see them married!

Meanwhile, Cassy herself is excited for Tom's return, although Jane is still sad that she is about to be separated from her. Cassy insists they will always be close and that most sisters go through this, but, as Jane says, they are ‘not most sisters’.

Back in 1830, Cassy tells a still very suspicious Dinah that she has started clearing Eliza’s room, as time is running out. And Dinah tells her that Mary is expected soon...

In flashback, we now hear a letter from young Mary to Eliza, as she recalls how she and her husband James rushed to Steventon to do their duty and break some news to the Austens. And ours and Cassy’s worst fears come true as we see Mary bluntly inform poor Cassy that Tom has died of yellow fever and been buried at sea. She claims that Tom didn't tell Lord Craven that he was engaged as he wouldn’t have taken him and he was so keen to go. Jane insists this isn’t true. Mary, in her letter to Eliza, claims that Cassy became hysterical, even though we see her reacting calmly with great dignity…

Back in 1830, as a tearful Cassandra reads the letter, she is furious with Mary and her sneers about having to deal with the Austens’ "dramas". When Cassandra spots the older Mary in the garden, she bitterly says to herself that Mary lied and quickly hides the rest of the letters under the mattress and stuffs Mary’s one in her pocket…