Summary: With all new adaptations of Jane Austen's Emma and Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford and Return to Cranford now airing on PBS' MASTERPIECE Classic, Penguin Books Editor-in-Chief Stephen Morrison leads a discussion with two experts on Austen and Gaskell as they explore the importance of each authors' work, what their works can tell us about late 18th century Britain and Britain during the Industrial Revolution, the lives of women, the class system and why both authors' works are so often adapted. Stephen speaks with Sue Birtwistle, the producer of the much-loved adaptation of Pride & Prejudice starring Colin Firth and the co-creator and producer of Cranford and producer of Return to Cranford starring Judi Dench based on Gaskell's novel Cranford. Stephen also speaks with Tanya Agathocleous, an Assistant Professor of English literature at Hunter College, specializing in 19th and 20th Century British Literature and Culture.
