In partnership with Coach
“If a book is well written, I always find it too short,” said Jane Austen in her debut novel Sense and Sensibility. It's a sentiment that rang true as our March RUSSH Book Club participants turned the final pages of their copies. The story of sisters Elinor and Marianne – each a little too much head or heart – is one that's found resonance even now, nearly 200 years since its first publication. It's part of the reason why Coach included the novel in its release of bag charms this month – alongside other Penguin classics by Maya Angelou, Jandy Nelson and Celeste Ng. And with a new feature film adaptation en route this September (starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles), the novel felt apt for discussion at our very first RUSSH Book Club event of 2026.
Last night, guests arrived to Coach's store at Sydney's Queen Victoria Building, wearing the latest season's collection – and including plenty of the brand's most recent mini book charm releases that swung from classic Tabby bags and satchels alike. From Jordan Turner, Nyaluak Leth, Valentine Fodor and Matilda Price to Annabel and Phoebe Wolfe, Emerald Sullivan, Seren Bakir, Andrea Solange, Roxie Mohebbi, our readers were buzzing to listen in on a conversation between RUSSH's own Executive Fashion Director Hannah Cooper and author and screenwriter Diana Reid – who recently adapted Sense & Sensibility for Georgia Oakley's upcoming feature film.
After a welcome and Acknowledgement of Country, Cooper (a self-professed 'Austen nerd' herself) dove into a conversation with Reid that wound its way around romance tropes, head-versus-heart debates, what it was like translating characters for a 21st century audience and the author-to-screenwriter pipeline.
Reid admitted she was "more of an Elinor" and found it difficult at first to write to Marianne's character, but later "learned to love her character", after pulling the threads of her motivations to discover someone she resonated with more deeply. In a rapid-fire question round, Reid also sparked controversy (and a few enthusiastic cheers of agreement) when stating she was neither a bookmark nor a dog-ear person when it came to keeping place in her books. "Controversially, I'm neither," she laughed. "I think, if you can't remember where you're up to in your book you need to go back and re-read it – you haven't been paying enough attention."
Guests in the audience (and readers at home on Instagram) were then offered the floor to have their questions answered by Reid. Reid was queried about how she compared writing a sister dynamic in her own novel, Seeing Other People, with writing about the Dashwoods in a scripted format; and whether Austen would have loved or hated social media (it was concurred upon that she would have loved it, but likely been a silent lurker than an active participant).
After the conversation wrapped up, guests were given the opportunity to take home a beautiful new copy of the novel from Jane Austen x Puffin in Bloom – featuring a gorgeous illustrated cover by Anna Bond – and personalise their own leather Coach bookmarks, which were monogrammed by an in-house calligraphy artist, and with a leather stamping machine. Of course, champagne and canapés were free-flowing throughout the evening, and complimented by an incredibly photogenic (and equally delicious) book-shaped cake from Vege Mamma's Valentine Fodor, who was also in attendance.
Much like Austen’s observation that a truly good book always feels too short, so too did this wonderful evening of conversation come to a close all too quickly. And as the event wound down, and guests started to dissipate into the night, it couldn't help but be noted by many how integral and enchanting the medium of storytelling still remains – and how resonant the words of a pioneering young women nearly 200 years ago still remain.
