In December 1802, while visiting family friends at Manydown Park, Jane Austen received and accepted a proposal of marriage from Harris Bigg-Wither. The next day, she withdrew her acceptance. This episode we are joined by guests Prerna Ramachandra and Sarah Rose Kearns to discuss this crossroads moment in Austen's personal and professional life.

Thank you so much to Prerna and Rose for joining us for this episode! Their Kickstarter campaign for Manydown is now live: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theholytheatre/manydown-a-jane-austen-story. Please check it out and consider supporting their work. You can also follow along with their progress by subscribing to their Substack: https://manydown.substack.com. You can learn more about Prerna and Rose's other work at https://www.prernaramachandra.me and https://www.theholytheatre.org.

You can find us online at https://www.thethingaboutausten.com and follow us on Instagram @TheThingAboutAusten. You can email us at TheThingAboutAusten@gmail.com and head over to https://www.redbubble.com/people/aboutausten/shop to check out our podcast related merch.

Thank you to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, presenting Jane Austen Wrecked My Life for sponsoring this episode. You can learn more and watch at home here: https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/janeaustenwreckedmylife

Mrs. Bennet would like to ensure that Lizzy's special day is the MOST special. And what better way to do that than by having Darcy and Lizzy marry by special license. This episode we cover the banns, common licenses, and special licenses, and we dig into whether Mrs. Bennet's wedding dreams are likely to come true.

You can find us online at https://www.thethingaboutausten.com and follow us on Instagram @TheThingAboutAusten and on Twitter @Austen_Things. You can email us at TheThingAboutAusten@gmail.com and head over to https://www.redbubble.com/people/aboutausten/shop to check out our podcast related merch.

Marianne has a lot of feelings, and what better way of expressing them than through her music? Dr. Elizabeth "Elly" Weybright joins us for this episode to discuss Marianne as a musician and the ways in which Marianne's musicianship is central to her character. We also get into a bit of Austen's own history of piano ownership and music playing.

If you have ever cried on your piano after a bad breakup, this episode is for you.

Thank you so much to Elly for joining us for this episode! You can find her on Twitter @EllyWeybright.

You can find us online at https://www.thethingaboutausten.com and follow us on Instagram @TheThingAboutAusten and on Twitter @Austen_Things. You can email us at TheThingAboutAusten@gmail.com and head over to https://www.redbubble.com/people/aboutausten/shop to check out our podcast related merch.