Sure the poor woman is a little distracted; she could never be so ridiculous else as to venture at writing books
In the mid-17th century this was the general view of any woman who wanted to be a writer - it was to take another two centuries before it became really respectable.
From contemporary sources Derek Parker traces the course of the pioneers during that time from Mrs Aphra Benn. who was attacked for ' the startling indelicacy of her language 1, to the rise of Jane Austen , whom it was allowed was respectable.
Producer GWYNETH HENDERSON