After dazzling the wealthy Mr Bingley at the Meryton Ball, the eldest Bennet sister, Jane, receives an invitation to visit him and his sister at Netherfield Park, the grand estate he's renting nearby. At her mother's insistence, she makes the journey on horseback, arriving drenched and bedraggled thanks to an only slightly mistimed thunderstorm.

The wet-corseted Jane proves no less captivating to Bingley, but when she catches a cold, her younger sister Lizzy hurries off on foot to be with her. The visit offers our heroine another encounter with Mr Darcy - the same man who insulted her looks and refused to dance with her at the Meryton Ball. What could go wrong?

A Noiser podcast production.

Narrated by Dame Julie Andrews

Written by Jane Austen

Recording Engineer: Sam Hamilton

Produced by Katrina Hughes

Script Supervisors: Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Ed Baranski and Duncan Barrett

Sound Supervisors: Tom Pink and Oliver Baines

Sound Design by Tony Onuchukwu and Tom Pink

Audio Editing by Anisha Deva

Compositions: Dorry Macaulay

Music Performances by Dorry Macaulay, Oliver Baines, Mia Whittaker, and Moritz Flohr

Mix and Mastering: Josh Latham

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Close Readings: ‘Mansfield Park’ by Jane...