Masterpiece on PBS is whisking us back into the romantic Regency era world of Jane Austen, only this time, Jane’s sister Cassandra (Keeley Hawes) is our leading lady. The new Masterpiece show Miss Austen is an adaptation of Gill Hornby’s book of the same name. In that novel, Hornby attempted to solve one of the great mysteries that haunts Austen fans to this day: Why did Jane’s beloved sister Cassandra burn all of the author’s letters?

Miss Austen opens years after the death of Jane Austen (Patsy Ferran), at a moment when a close family friend is also at death’s door. Cassandra takes this moment to travel uninvited to the Fowles’ home, where her and Jane’s close friend Eliza (Madeline Walker) once lived before her own death. Cassy is there to find the letters Jane sent Eliza before her unscrupulous sister-in-law Mary Austen (Jessica Hynes) gets her claws on them.

While Cassandra is staying with the Fowles, she also finds herself roped into the drama now affecting Eliza’s youngest surviving daughter, Isabella (Rose Leslie). Now orphaned and unmarried, Isabella’s options are woefully limited. Even if a former flame still stays close by.

However the part of Miss Austen that fans might be most in love with are the flashbacks to when Jane, Cassy (Synnøve Karlsen), and their friends were young. Jane is depicted as true idiosyncratic genius, while Cassy is the perfect archetype of an Austen heroine.

Of course, with all the flashbacks and flash forwards, characters with similar names and complicated relationships, it might be tough to figure out how all these people are connected to Jane Austen. Consider this Miss Austen cast guide as your cheat sheet to how all of these characters are connected — and where you’ve seen the actors before…