How I Met P&P95: Kathleen

My parents love literature. Over the years, they have accumulated an enormous library because of this love, even when their finances were stretched thin. So of course in their hours of reading, they had both encountered the world of Jane Austen. My mother had read Pride and Prejudice, and my father had read Emma, and both admired her wit and style. They discovered the BBC/A&E version of Pride and Prejudice when I was four years old.

And so it happened. I was hit by a huge dose of Jane Austen. Yes, at the tender age of four, I watched for the very first time the timeless Pride and Prejudice 1995.

We were enthralled. I was entranced. We had never seen anything like it. I admired the beautiful Jennifer Ehle and the handsome Colin Firth, and felt very content when they married at the end. My parents admired the humour and the superb acting of all the cast members, from Mr. Darcy and Lizzy to Lydia and Wickham. I fell in love with the costumes.

And so, that started it. We have watched it almost every year, and I have never ever gotten tired of it. Every year I become more mature and find more details I had never noticed before, more subtleties that had escaped my noticed. And I have learned the dances danced at the Meryton Assembly Hall and at the Netherfield Ball. I even held my own ball at my Regency-themed birthday party. And I still love the costumes.

I have even attempted to show it to my friends. And you know what? They absolutely adore it. And if anybody even mentions or whispers about the 2005 version, I cringe. I throw rotten tomatoes (yes, sure I do!).

And so that started my love of everything Jane Austen.

And now I am a proud member of the P&P95 Forever Club.

Find out more about the blog series by clicking the "how I met P&P95" tag below.