Janice Hadlow Audiobooks

The Other Bennet Sister, Austen's world revisited by a former BBC Two controller

1 audiobook reviewed

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19 listener ratings

Who is Janice Hadlow?

Janice Hadlow, born in 1957, is a British writer who came to books after a substantial career in broadcasting. She was one of the BBC’s most senior television executives, running BBC Four before taking over as controller of BBC Two in 2008, then overseeing special projects and seasons until she left the corporation in 2016.

Her writing life began with non-fiction: A Royal Experiment: The Private Life of King George III, published in 2014, an account of the domestic world of George III. She followed it in 2020 with her first novel, The Other Bennet Sister, announcing a confident second act in fiction.

Janice Hadlow in audiobooks

The Other Bennet Sister is Hadlow’s first novel, and the title alone tells Austen readers exactly where it is set: among the Bennets, the most famous household in English fiction, seen from a fresh angle. Period fiction with a strong sense of character rewards a good narration, which makes this a natural audiobook choice for listeners who like their classics revisited.

Hadlow arrives with unusual credentials for a debut novelist: a career spent shaping programmes for a national audience, and the Georgian grounding of her earlier study of George III’s private life. On this evidence, the fiction rests on genuine period authority rather than costume-drama guesswork.