Jane Actually

perhaps because she needed to talk, she revealed more of herself than she ought. Her words came in a torrent.
    She spoke of her upbringing in Ohio; of her mother, a Briton who had grown up in Hounslow, which Mary rightly believed to be a London suburb—“I knew a very pretty young girl from Hounslow” mused Mr Pembroke; of her decision to become an actor despite her diffidence—“a young lady who leaves home and moves to New York City must have some confidence,” said Jane; and of her partiality to musicals, including
West Side Story
—which occasioned Mary and Melody to relate the plot to Jane, with musical accompaniment that sadly the terminal interpreted as “unintelligible.”
    Mary found herself enjoying the interview, but it was finally interrupted by a knock at the door and an assistant informing them that there were still many candidates waiting in the hallway.
    “Thank you for taking the time to come today, Miss Crawford,” Jane said.
    “Yes, it was very nice meeting you and we’ll let you know soon if we’ll need you to come back,” Melody said.
    “Good day to you, Miss Crawford,” Mr Pembroke said with finality.
    Mary thanked them all in turn and was led out of the office by yet another assistant and within a few minutes found herself out on the street looking up at 1745 Broadway. 7 She felt adrift after having made a connection with Melody, Mr Pembroke and most of all Jane Austen. She could have sworn it had been going so well but then they had hustled her out so quickly and efficiently, like a trapdoor had opened and dropped her body to the river below. She shrugged her shoulders and walked back to her subway stop and again contemplated that New York City and her dream of acting were to be consigned to the past.
    1 A rough pencil and watercolour portrait of Jane Austen by her sister Cassandra is the only known likeness of the author
    2 American journalist and caustic wit HL Mencken described Puritanism thusly: “The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”
    3 The story-telling host of
A Prairie Home Companion
and author of
Lake Wobegon Days
    4 Shaquille Rashaun O’Neal, a player for the National Basketball Association
    5 Portrayed by Lucy Lawless in the television series that ran from 1995 to 2001. The titular character was said to be six feet tall.
    6 From Yiddish, a talentless, unattractive, or boorish person
    7 The offices of Random House, Jane’s publisher

Planning for the future
Melody faces the changes in her life
    M elody pondered the cities in the upcoming tour. In her office, she’d put up a large map of the US with little pushpins for each city and was even tempted to connect them with bits of string. The logistics of the whole affair was starting to overwhelm her and she knew she needed someone to help with the burden. Her former assistant had moved to the West Coast last year, ostensibly to open her own agency, but Rebecca had really left because her fiancé had taken a job there.
    Rebecca’s departure left Melody with no one except her ancient receptionist. Lillian only worked mornings answering the phone and occasionally ran errands and was all but retired. Melody kept her on for the pretence of being more than a one-person company and because Lillian actually knew the business.
    Intellectually Melody knew that her world had changed with Jane’s contract. She would either have to make Jane her only client and transition from literary agent to manager/personal representative, or she would actually need to hire associates who could handle her other clients. She glanced at the stack of unsolicited résumés from eager, young literary agents and at the enormous bags of query letters she’d received since the announcement of Jane’s contract.
    She looked around her cramped office, still looking almost exactly as Janet Appelbaum had left it. The walls were filled with book covers, awards and photographs, plus the detritus of personal belongings Melody had introduced over the years to make the place cozy. Lillian had also contributed with her photos of other people’s cats.
    I will hate to give this place up, but it’s too small for Jane Austen MediaCorp or whatever. Oh God, I’m getting gloomy!
    She turned her attention back to the map and the tour. She could definitely meet Jane in Seattle, where there was a particularly enthusiastic Janeite installed at a Barnes & Noble store. She’d been one of Jane’s earliest supporters, in fact, and should be