Judith French looks like Jane Austen, which is an advantage to her in her one-woman show which aims to bring to life the woman behind the great novels.

At least, she looks like Emma, with her eyes of "true hazel", and that is good enough for me. Because precious little is known about Austen and French has drawn obviously from the novels, and particularly from the characters of Emma Woodhouse and Marianne Dashwood and Elizabeth Bennet, to fashion her novelist.

I don't believe a woman of Austen's intelligence and passion could really have escaped romance and its attendant h eartbreak as cleanly as French seems to think. The woman French has drawn is, from very early on, motivated primarily by the desire to pursue her art; and My Solitary Elegance is a superb evocation of that lonely passion.

It is also highly entertaining, as French conjures up, and embroiders upon, Austen's vicious satire, placed in context in a tight family circle. It can be recommended to anyone who could fancy spending an evening out with Austen herself.