Jane Austen Is My Cure for Insomnia

By Karin B. Miller

Elizabeth Bennet, Emma Woodhouse, and Anne Elliot are busy nearly every night, helping me get to sleep.

As one of roughly 27 million U.S. women dealing with menopause — as well as one of the 60% of whom must cope with her annoying sister, insomnia — I’ve tried everything: warm baths, bedtime yoga, hot tea, and, let’s not kid ourselves, white wine. After years of sleepless nights, overtiredness, and fogginess, I’m happy to report that, beginning last month, a small-dosage sleeping pill and a gummy melatonin (or two) are helping.

That said, my buzzing brain still needs to quiet so I can actually fall asleep. White noise and music don’t help. Neither do sleep podcasts. I’ve tried many, but the stories don’t take me places I want to go — like a fairy tale about a prince and his magical dog in Iceland, or a “sleepy” adaptation of The Great Gatsby, where (spoiler alert) there’s still domestic abuse and a murder. (Yeah, that’s the stuff for sweet dreams.) Or how about a voice that’s supposed to bore listeners to sleep? Tried that too and no, thank you.

Then I got an idea: My son also needs help falling to sleep. His bedtime read? An audiobook of The Night Circus.

What are my favorite books? Three Jane Austen novels: Pride & Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion. I’ve discovered that listening to these audiobooks is comforting in the best way possible, like indulging in a bowl of cinnamon bread pudding. I know these characters, I know these plots, and I know their satisfying endings. And if I awaken in the night? I just return to my audiobook. Wherever it’s landed, I’m not lost — I know right where the story is headed.

Oh, and I don’t listen to just any narrator. I’ve tried others, but there’s no contest: Jane Austen audiobooks read by Juliet Stevenson are incomparable. Perhaps best known for playing Keira Knightley’s mom in Bend It Like Beckham, this top-notch British actor performs expertly no matter the Austen character — Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy, or even Mr. Collins.

Gotta go—it’s nearly bedtime, and I’m ready for another chapter of Persuasion.

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Karin B. Miller is a Minneapolis-based writer and editor. Her latest book is Laundry Love: Finding Joy in a Common Chore, which she co-authored with Patric Richardson, star of The Laundry Guy on Discovery Plus.