Spare us from romcom Austen. Give me the dark side of 19th-century life any day | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

New adaptations of Emma, Pride and Prejudice and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights explore slavery, pervy nuns and death in childbirth. Count me in!

News that Andrew Davies – the man behind the nation’s most beloved Pride and Prejudice adaptation – is planning to have Jane Austen’s Emma die in childbirth drew gasps from audiences at Cliveden literary festival last weekend. Davies is planning to explore the dark undercurrents of Austen’s work in adaptations of Emma, Mansfield Park and unfinished novel The Watsons, and while his ideas may shock those fans wedded to Austen as a romcom author, I couldn’t be happier.

I have always loved a period drama, especially literary adaptations. A few years ago, though, Austen fatigue set in for me. Maybe it’s the fact I’ve seen at least three Emmas and three Pride and Prejudices, and read each of her novels at least thrice. There are so many other stories in the world, many waiting to be discovered and adapted. Unless there was some new spin or interpretation being offered, I simply stopped being interested.

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist

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