The wisdom, humour and sanity of Jane Austen have been my constant companions - as they have for millions of other readers over the past two centuries. Her view of the world is just as relevant now as it has ever been - perhaps more so.  A fine example of this timelessness is the profoundly beautiful passage in Mansfield Park describing Fanny's and Edmund's star-gazing. 'His eyes soon turned like hers towards the scene without, where all that was solemn and soothing, and lovely, appeared in the brilliancy of an unclouded night, and the contrast of the deep shade of the woods. Fanny spoke her feelings. 'Here's harmony!' said she. 'Here's repose! Here's what may leave all painting and all music behind, and what poetry only can attempt to describe. Here's what may tranquillize every care, and lift the heart to rapture! When I look out on such a night as this, I feel as if there could be neither wickedness nor sorrow in the world; and there certainly would be less of both if the sublimity of Nature were more attended to, and people were carried more out of themselves by contemplating such a scene.'

I once took comfort in this passage on a flight back from New York, at 3am, in semi-darkness, 30,000 feet over a vast ocean.  As a nervous flyer, and with my braver travelling companions asleep, I calmed myself by joining Fanny and Edmund beside the window at Mansfield, watching bright Arcturus and the Bear at their side. My battered 1980s Penguin copy of Mansfield Park falls open at this page, and never fails to bring solace and inspiration.