Hello and welcome to a new episode of Legacy. I'm Peter Frank O'Hopern. I'm Afwa Hirsch.

And this is Legacy, the show that explores the lives, events and ideas that have shaped their world

and asks whether they have the reputations that they truly deserve.

This is part two. Proud or Prejudiced? or prejudiced.

Do you actually enjoy reading, Austin?

I know you said that you've kind of discovered her as a result that adaptations have

awakened the curiosity that was kind of kept from you when you were growing up.

Well, I kept them from myself. I mean, I don't think I was smart enough to realize what I was missing. No, I think Austin is a fantastically easy writer to read because she also makes you laugh. You know, apart from the ways in which the plots unravel, you know, she's very shrewdly asides the kind of in the breaking the fourth wall full fall of trying you know, you can hear Austin's voice through it. So, no, it's a joy to read. I mean, it's, and, you know, I don't know whether you've tried writing fiction aflo, but to write like that, it's really hard. I mean, have you, have you tried to experiment it with fiction writing? I do write fiction and I and it's one of those things that

the easier an author makes it look probably the harder it is. I mean, her fiction just seems so

effortless. The characters are so real. The worlds are so immersive and her voice is so clear.

And those are the kind, that's the kind of writing that lulls you into a false sense that anyone

can do this,

then you try to do it. It's really, really hard. And I think, you know, I was thinking about this,

as people who live in Britain, like, you can't escape the class system. It's still so pervasive.

And one of the things I love about Austin is that this was a time when it was much more transparent.

Everybody knew the hierarchy.

They knew where they were in it.

They kind of acknowledged how it worked.

And I think many of those structures survive, but now we're not comfortable with acknowledging it.

It's more hidden and coded.

And it's actually,

this is going to sound counterintuitive, but there's something weirdly refreshing about a world where

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