Photo: PBS Masterpiece

The television adaptation of Gill Hornby’s best-selling and much loved novel Miss Austen heads to PBS this May. Miss Austen takes a literary mystery, one where Cassandra Austen notoriously burns her famous sister Jane’s letters and then reimagines it as a fascinating, witty and heart-breaking story of sisterly love, while creating in Cassandra a character as captivating as any Austen heroine.

The drama begins in 1830, not long after Jane has died. Cassandra (Keeley Hawes) races to see her young friend Isabella (Rose Leslie) who is about to lose her home following her father’s death. Cassandra is ostensibly there to help her friend, but her real motive is to find a stash of private letters which, in the wrong hands, could destroy Jane’s reputation.

On discovering them, Cassandra is overwhelmed as she is transported back to her youth. In flashback, we meet Young Cassy and Jane (Patsy Ferran) as they navigate the infatuations, family feuds and dashed hopes which shaped their lives and laid the foundations for Jane’s unforgettable stories.

Cassandra’s re-evaluation of her past eventually leads her to realize how blind she has been to the real cause of Isabella’s heartache and distress. Finding a way to guide Isabella towards true happiness, Cassandra is finally able to understand and celebrate the sacrifices she chose to make for her brilliant sister, Jane.

The four-part ‘Masterpiece‘ boasts a stellar cast including Keeley Hawes (Ashes to Ashes, It’s A Sin, Bodyguard, Line of Duty, The Durrells), Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones, Vigil), Patsy Ferran (Living, Hot Milk), Jessica Hynes (Spaced, Twenty Twelve, W1A), Mirren Mack (The Witcher: Blood Origin, The Nest), Phyllis Logan (Downton Abbey, Shetland), Kevin McNally (The Crown, Ten Percent), Max Irons (Condor, The Wife), Alfred Enoch (Bridgerton, Archie) and Liv Hill (The Serpent Queen, Elizabeth Is Missing).

Miss Austen will premiere as part of Masterpiece on PBS beginning Sunday, May 4.