Annual Lecture 2025: "The Difficult Miss Austen"

Jane Austen's House is proud to present its annual lecture, delivered by the acclaimed and much loved novelist Salley Vickers.

In this fascinating and detailed study of "The Difficult Miss Austen", Salley considers some of the more subversive and socially critical elements in Jane Austen's novels, as well as the dangers and difficulties that women experienced, living within the constraints of a socially conservative and potentially punitive society. She reflects on how the novels have been interpreted over the last 200 years, honing in on Mansfield Park to investigate what is often perceived as Jane Austens "difficult" novel.

Salley Vickers published her first novel, the word-of-mouth bestseller, Miss Garnet’s Angel, in 2000 and now writes full time. Before that she worked as a tutor in adult education, a university teacher of literature and a psychoanalyst. She is proud to be a Patron of Jane Austen’s House.

The lecture is introduced by Kathryn Sutherland, Professor of English and Senior Research Fellow at St. Anne’s College, Oxford, and a Patron of Jane Austen's House.

This talk was delivered at Jane Austen’s House in front of a small live audience but it was filmed especially for you, our online audience – so grab a cup of tea, settle down and enjoy it, wherever you are in the world!

Film by Yoni Bentovim and Marco Carini
Introduced by Professor Kathryn Sutherland