PRIDE AND PREJUDICE- 200th ANNIVERSARY

Two centuries after the publication of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's fans believe her work is still as relevant today as it has ever been.



On January 29 1813, Jane Austen wrote to her sister Cassandra to tell her the good news that Pride and Prejudice, which was to become her most famous novel, had been published.

"I want to tell you that I have got my own darling child from London," she wrote.

"Her own darling child of course means her book," explained Louise West, curator of Jane Austen's House Museum in Chawton in Hampshire.

"This tells you exactly what Jane thought of her books. They were her children. She had no children of her own and these where she poured all her maternal feelings I suppose."

Two centuries later, Austen's work remains popular both in the UK and around the world.

Jill Webster, secretary of the Kent branch of the Jane Austen Society, said it was easy to see why: "They are very simple plots, they're about love and marriage and money and power and small, domestic family settings.
"I think they're applicable to any time and any age".