Jane Austen has proved a surprise drawcard theme at St Andrew's Cathedral's women's high tea, which led non-Christian guests to invite their friends.

The 130 women who turned up for high tea on Saturday filled the Cathedral's Chapter House to capacity, and ranged from high-school students to senior citizens.

"Frankly we just didn't think it would get the momentum that it did " I don't think we had any idea that it was so appealing to so many people," explains event organiser, Fiona Smark.

She estimates 50 percent of the women who attended were not Christian.

"This was a much better percentage than what we'd normally expect," she says, indicating the appeal of Jane Austen to 21st-century women is fast becoming "a truth universally acknowledged".

"Non-Christians were inviting their friends" They just came because they loved Jane Austen.

“We advertised it as a Christian perspective on Jane Austen " we didn't pretend.. and I don't think people were disappointed with the talk or felt they had been misled."

Professional musicians who are also members of the Cathedral sang and played period music, while women sampled treats from the era including rout cakes  and ratafia cakes.

Other features were a Jane Austen quiz, and a talk by Meryll Charleston encouraging women to put their security in Jesus, rather than a "wealthy marriage' as many of Austen's characters did.

Each woman received an "Austen-era' recipe booklet with quotes, a handout on the country dances featured so prominently in Austen's books, and a copy of Lesley Ramsay's book He Loves Me, He Loves Me

Not

, He Loves Me.

Gingerbread fame for Austen?

While the popularity of gingerbread house-making nights continues, Mrs Smark says Jane Austen High Teas could prove to be an event with a similar reliable pulling power, which could be held throughout the year.

“It’s nice to have something popular to do at Christmas " and gingerbread has been great for that,” she says.

“It would be nice if we could find another event which was of equal popularity which churches could run with, and the Jane Austen High Tea certainly worked brilliantly for us in terms of popularity.”

Why does the 18th-century Jane Austen have such appeal for 21st-Century women?

Mrs Smark offers her perspective:

"The men in her books are particularly attractive" everyone wants to marry Mr Darcy not so much because of his wealth (although it helps!) but because of his character, his integrity, his honesty, his willingness to do what he feels is right no matter what the cost is to him personally," she says.

"And when you look at all of her books, they are romantic… You get this picture of a very happy country life that's actually divorced from the hardships of the time… where the heroes and heroines of the stories all get the happy ending that wasn't true in those times, and isn’t true today, but that is something we all long for."