Secret Life of Books

Breakfast with Jane Austen

24 Jun 2025

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Breakfast is the most important meal of the day -- especially for Jane Austen. On and off the page, Austen paid a lot of attention to the breakfast table. In real life, Austen woke before her family, played the piano and got the breakfast ready, before retreating to write for the rest of the morning. And in the novels this meal is no less foundational: it's when we get to see the characters as they really are, sometimes up and about for hours before downing a boiled egg and a piece of toast, barely managing to consume a thin piece of bread and butter, or shoveling up pork, eggs and coffee after a morning's ride. Breakfast is the least formal meal of the day, so we see lots of interactions that can't happen at dinner, lunch or supper, when servants are present. At all times, Austen pays meticulous attention to what gets eaten, how, and why, and of course what is revealed about all of her characters when they sit down to table.Join us for a joyful romp through Austen's meals, in a studio recording of a session Sophie and Jonty presented at the Sorrento Writers Festival in April 2025, with the world-renowned Austen scholar Clara Tuite, whose "Thirty Great Myths About Jane Austen", co-authored with Sophie's Princeton colleague Claudia Johnson, is a must-read for any Janeite. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Secret Life of Books

Breakfast with Jane Austen

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

Other episodes from Secret Life of Books

Canterbury Tales (General Prologue) by Geoffrey Chaucer

Back to School 4: Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

Back to School 3: A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines

"On Morrison": a conversation with Namwali Serpell

Toni Morrison 3: Beloved

Saved from Fire: the Toni Morrison Archives

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