Mary is an Outsider

Jessica Hynes on her role as the Austens’ difficult sister-in-law How do you see Mary, Jessica? When she married James [Cassandra and Jane’s brother, played by Patrick Knowles], her identity came from his status. She was conventional, but Jane, Cassandra and their friend Eliza [Mary’s sister and Isabella’s mother, played by Madeleine Walker] defied expectations. So Mary’s an outsider to their close friendships and can be abrupt and unthinking. But the past informs her loaded exchanges. She’s als...