I am seriously hooked. I'm also about 7 years out of date, because I foolishly cocked a snook at the first novel and refused to read the books until, ooh, last month! I blame the harsh reviews on Amazon (I'm easily influenced). Yes, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation contains the most irritatingly bouncy heroine this side of Georgette Heyer's 1930s Regency romances - I renamed Amy Balcourt 'Tigger in a Dress' - and the occasional anachronism makes a guest appearance (sometimes on purpose, when Willig plays fast and loose with historical dates and personages to fit the plot), but more than anything, these novels are fun! And what's more - they source The Scarlet Pimpernel! (Yeah, you knew that was coming.) Sir Percy doesn't actually feature in any of the stories - more's the pity - but the flowery-titled spy in the first novel, who calls himself the Purple Gentian (the gag starts to droop after the first couple of books), is supposed to have joined the League ... and accidentally caused the death of Tony Dewhurst (I wish writers would leave the poor man alone!)

The central conceit of the series requires some suspension of disbelief - think Heyer, not Orczy. Modern day American grad student Eloise 'Mary Sue' Kelly is in London researching her dissertation on 'Aristocratic espionage during the wars with France: 1789-1815', or 'Why I love men in black masks'. The obvious starting point is the Scarlet Pimpernel, but Eloise receives a polite rebuff from the Blakeney estate and moves onto the family archives of the Purple Gentian - and the Pink Carnation, another as yet 'unmasked' spy. The male descendent of the Gentian line, Colin, is not impressed with Eloise's snooping, but his mother overrules him and lets Eloise at the family's conveniently extensive and in-depth collection of papers, kept in a trunk in a London apartment and behind the panelling at the country pile in Kent (supposedly next door to Blakeney Manor, which was in ... Surrey. Never mind.) There, Eloise leads the reader back two hundred years to 1803, where the journals and letters of the Gentian and Carnation become a sort of Regency romp to complement the chick lit of Eloise's first person narrative. The sequels follow the same pattern, with Eloise and Colin growing closer, and more floral secret heroes being unmasked, including the Carnation's nemesis, the Black Tulip (reminding me of the Black Fingernail in 'Carry On ... Don't Lose Your Head', which I have seen, unfortunately).

So far I'm at book 5, having temporarily skipped book 3, care of two library books and two very cheap used copies from Amazon marketplace. (I was lying to myself that I was only reading the series as 'an experiment', initially, but now I can't stop. Or find cheap copies of the next two books ANYWHERE! Catch up, Kindle - I'm willing to pay full price!) I heartily recommend Lauren Willig's novels, if you are the mood for vaguely historical fluff with a connection to The Scarlet Pimpernel, sort of Heyer writes Orczy. The original US covers are far better than the generic photo-art rebranding of the UK editions, though (see above).

     1. Favourite Austen heroine

Emma Woodhouse. She has it all – intelligence, looks, wealth – and doesn’t have to marry, but finds love with her best friend.

2. Favourite Austen man

Mr Knightley. There may be a pattern developing here.

3. Favourite Austen book

You can have three guesses, but one will no doubt suffice. Yep. Emma.

4. Favourite quote from the books

‘The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid’ (Henry Tilney, Northanger Abbey)

5. Favourite moment in the books

The end, but not in a snarky way! I’m not usually a sucker for Happy Ever Afters, but when Austen’s heroes and heroines finally get together, the result is always heart-warming. And Austen never overeggs the pudding, providing plenty of romantic potential for the imaginations of her readers.

6. Favourite movie adaptation

Emma (2009), which I must have watched at least ten times on my iPod alone! But honourable mention goes to Pride and Prejudice (2005), which succeeded in bringing the characters to life for me where Colin Firth’s soggy shirt failed ten years earlier.

7. Favourite Austen couple

Emma Woodhouse and George Knightley, bien sûr! I think these two would have the strongest marriage out of all Austen's couples.

8. Least favourite couple

Fanny Price and Edmund Bertram *yawn* Process of elimination is not the best way to find a husband, Fanny, especially not when the last man standing is your cousin.

9. Most hated foe of a heroine

Mrs Norris’ uppity treatment of Fanny Price in Mansfield Park. And I don’t even like Fanny Price!

10. Most frustrating family member

I hate hypochondriacs like Mr Woodhouse, but Mary Musgrove of Persuasion is the whining attention seeker who aggravates most – and that’s just from watching the 1995 adaptation!

This year is the centenary of the 'unsinkable' Titanic, which hit an iceberg on the fourth night of her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York and sank, claiming the lives of over 1,500 passengers and crew. There are countless books and films on the topic, and even more rabid 'Titaniacs' in different historical camps who will always be fascinated by the fateful ship, but by far the best 'memorial' for me is Roy Baker's 1958 film version, A Night To Remember. Forget the big budgets and special effects of Hollywood. Don't bother with 'soap opera' specials set aboard the doomed liner. A Night to Remember, filmed in glorious black and white at Pinewood Studios, has it all: historical ambience, heartwrenching emotion, comic relief and understated dignity. Who needs hokey romances or cliched melodrama to engage the audience? The Titanic should be the story, not merely the setting.