As a Muslim girl in Bradford, I saw my story in Jane Austen’s novels. Now I’ve directed a TV series about her | Ali Naushahi

I soaked up her sharp insights into class, gender and power. Reading more about her life, the parallels between us became clearI grew up as the daughter of an imam in a conservative British-Pakistani community in Bradford. Our early years were spent in a large Victorian terrace owned by the local mosque council. When my father was replaced, we downsized overnight to a much smaller house on the other side of town. The loss of a beloved home, close friends and community was a deeply disorienting experience.Decades later, directing the new BBC series Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius, I found myself thinking back to that time. On the surface, my life and Jane Austen’s couldn’t be more different – an English novelist born in the 18th century and a working-class British-Pakistani woman. Austen’s novels had always resonated with me when I read them as a girl. But learning more about her life as part of my director’s prep, I realised just how many shared realities we had. I saw how similar Austen’s family dynamics were to my own a couple of centuries down the line. When Austen’s father stepped away from his post as a clergyman, it forced the family to leave their genteel rectory home for a series of ever more insecure living quarters. Though separated by culture, time and geography, like Austen I understood early the brutality of economics and just how vulnerable a family can become when its financial foundation is shaken.Ali Naushahi is a TV director and writerDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

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