The Other Bennet Sister

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I've only read half of this book and so far the story is a re-telling of Pride and Prejudice from Mary's perspective. Her life isn't that all exciting: she tries some glasses on, she buys a pretty dress, and she tries some makeup. There were painfully detailed descriptions of the most basic of things. Which might have been vaguely appealing if Mary wasn't such a downer. At one point I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd broken into a 'conceal don't feel' type of song.

Spirited [and] sure to please . . . Hadlow proves adept at delivering plot twists and social commentary deserving of her mentor.” Jones, Hazel (2009). Jane Austen and marriage. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-847-25218-0. A holder of an estate can entail it for two generations succeeding him. Mr. Bennet's grandfather entailed the estate first directly through the male descendants of his son then failing that through the male descendants of his own daughter. Collins is a descendant of Mr. Bennet's great aunt. Children [ edit ] Jane Bennet [ edit ] In a letter to Cassandra dated May 1813, Jane Austen describes a picture she saw at a gallery which was a good likeness of "Mrs. Bingley" – Jane Bennet. Deirdre Le Faye in Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels suggests that Portrait of Mrs. Q- is the picture that Austen described. [40]The narrator does not forgive her stupidity, nor her awkward interferences, and finds her absurd remarks and pretensions inherently selfish. When Jane asks her to feel gratitude to her brother, who had paid a lot of money towards Lydia's wedding, she replied that 'had he not had children, that she and her daughters will inherit all his property', and he has never been 'really generous so far' (" If he had not had a family of his own, I and my children must have had all his money, you know; and it is the first time we have ever had anything from him, except a few presents"). [36] Lydia's marriage does not satisfy her as much as she wanted, because her daughter did not stay long enough with her so that she could continue to parade with her. (" Lydia does not leave me because she is married, but only because her husband's regiment happens to be so far off. If that had been nearer, she would not have gone so soon"), [37] and if she was able to happily " for all her maternal feelings [get] rid of her most deserving daughters"; the marriage of Jane will only satisfy her " delighted pride" during the year that the Bingleys spent at Netherfield. [38] Mary does not appear often in the main action of the novel. However, it is said in volume 3, chapter 19 (the epilogue) that, now with Jane, Elizabeth, and Lydia married and moved out of Longbourn, and Kitty living primarily with Jane and Elizabeth, Mary received more attention, and was made to mix more with people during company ("Mary was the only daughter who remained at home; and she was necessarily drawn from the pursuit of accomplishments by Mrs. Bennet's being quite unable to sit alone. Mary was obliged to mix more with the world, but she could still moralize over every morning visit; and as she was no-longer mortified by comparisons between her sisters' beauty and her own, it was suspected by her father that she submitted to the change without much reluctance"). Hadlow studied history prior to her career in television, playing an important role in popularising history on TV by making such highly series as Simon Schama’s History of Britain, so it’s no surprise that her knowledge and research is displayed with a deft touch, capturing the essence of the period and making the voice feel accurate rather than pastiche.

But she was a clever girl, and she soon understood what the sighs and frowns and dismissals meant. She could not help but notice that Mrs. Bennet never talked about her appearance with the pleasure with which she described her elder sisters. Quindlen, Anna (1995). Introduction. Pride and Prejudice. By Austen, Jane. New York: Modern Library. p. viii. ISBN 0-679-60168-6. Absolutely magical. . . . It is a marvel that The Other Bennet Sister is [Hadlow’s] first novel. Her writing is elegant and wry, the story wise and engrossing. . . . [You'll] be surprised that you aren't actually reading Jane Austen.”

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In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice , Mary is the middle of the five Bennet girls and the plainest of them all, so what hope does she have? Prim and pious, with no redeeming features, she is unloved and seemingly unlovable. I think for me, one of the moments was realizing that when she goes to London — she goes to see her uncle and aunt, the Gardeners — and when she does that, that's the point where her transformation starts to happen. Because once she arrives in London, once you arrive in a town, you no longer have to be who you have been in the past year. What urban life offers you is the opportunity to remake yourself and turn yourself into somebody else. You're no longer confined by what everybody else has thought of you for the first 20 years of your life. And I think that's quite a modern sensation. I think that's something we can all identify with. I think finding happiness is a universal desire that transcends period and time. I think we all want that even 250 years after Austen was writing. Auerbach, Emily (2004). Searching for Jane Austen. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-20184-8. The Other Bennet One by one, her sisters marry - Jane and Lizzy for love; Lydia for some semblance of respectability - but Mary, it seems, is destined to remain single and live out her life at Longbourn, at least until her father dies and the house is bequeathed to the reviled Mr Collins.