In Case You Missed It: Backlist Book Love (23 February)
Austenite edition
I missed this last month, but we’re back with another installment of Backlist Book Love, wherein I share my enthusiasm for books that were not released within the past year. Why? Because those books deserve love, and readers, too! And they keep on deserving it long after the publicists have moved on. Check out the first installment for the full explanation!
After reading The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch at the end of last year, I’ve been on a bit of an Jane Austen kick. I’ve been re-visiting the originals, but I’ve read quite a few good retellings, alternate POVs, and sequels over the years. Here are three of my favorites!
Links in this post are affiliate links to Bookshop; if you buy a book using them, then I get a small commission from Bookshop, which I will then use to… buy more books.
The Other Bennet Sister, Janice Hadlow
Published January 2020
This was the first Mary Bennet book I’ve actually liked. In contrast to the others, it doesn’t lean into the “Not Like Other Girls” trope, nor does it feel the need to turn Lizzy and Jane into nasty shrews in order to elevate Mary, nor does it make every male figure from the original story inexplicably secretly in love with her. Rather, this is a story with impressive emotional veracity. Mary tries on aspects of personality in the hope that they might impress — but real happiness is only achieved when she embraces the best parts of her natural character. Hadlow renders Mary’s developing character with real love, and it’s a satisfying coup for anyone who ever felt an ugly duckling.
Longbourn, Jo Baker
Published October 2013
When Miss Elizabeth Bennet gets her petticoat six inches deep in mud, who has to get it pristine again? Housemaid Sarah, a figure utterly on the margins of Pride & Prejudice — but who, of course, has her own full life. I really enjoyed this, not least because if you've ever worked in the service industry, parts of Sarah's experience will resonate, despite 200 years worth of removal from her era.
The Murder of Mr. Wickham, Claudia Gray
Published May 2022
This book was very... restful, in a strange way -- particularly for a murder mystery. I appreciated the chance to "catch up" with some beloved characters, and this is well-executed. New characters Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney are both quite appealing: Juliet is new to society and trying to balance its expectations with her natural inclinations; Jonathan is neurodivergent in a world that has no name for that, and struggling to decipher the social codes that dictate his world. They find a good partnership with each other, though neither really seems certain if they truly *want* it to develop into more than that or if they're just *expected* to want that. Claudia Gray does a lovely job paying homage to the cadence and tone of Austen's writing without mimicking it *so* precisely that it feels stilted to a modern reader.
Now go, and add to your accomplishments the improvement of your mind by extensive reading!
