I just love reading modern authors’ takes on Jane Austen’s classic plots and characters. Partly, I just can’t get enough of these characters, and partly because something really special in seeing what other Janeites have done with our favorite characters.
Sure, not every Jane Austen variation is a winner, and when these spinoffs are bad, they’re truly horrific. I’m thinking specifically of The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet, which was rumored to be written on a bet. A bet which every reader of the novel lost.
But when these Austen variations and spinoffs are good, they’re just amazing fun for any Janeite reader. Here are some of my favorite Jane Austen reinventions:
Longbourn
Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star
If you only have time to read one Jane Austen variation, get Heather Lynn Rigaud’s Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star for the most fun, with little nods to to the text. This rock star retelling of the greatest book ever opens when virtuoso guitarist and bad-boy rocker Fitzwilliam Darcy, his cousin Richard Fitzwilliam and college friend Charles Bingley, are looking for an opening act on their tour. Their band manager, Caroline Bingley, suggests an indie girl band Long Borne Suffering, composed of sisters Elizabeth and Jane Bennett, and their friend Charlotte Lucas.The Pursuit of Mary Bennet
The Pursuit of Mary Bennet, by Pamela Mingle, takes the least-loved Bennet sister and imagines her awkwardness in the original as typical teenage awkwardness. With a bit of freedom from her overbearing mother and some music lessons financed by her new brothers-in-law, why shouldn’t Mary come into her own?
The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet
The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet, by Kate Rorick and Rachel Kiley, follows the Lizzie Bennet Diaries web series, or the novelization, The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet. This is a minor-character spinoff of a modern-retelling spinoff, so far removed from actual P&P that Elizabeth appears in just a few scenes, but it does give Lydia a nice storyline that isn’t a lifetime of punishment for an unfortunate teenage crush on Wickham.
What Kitty Did Next
If little Kitty was your favorite Bennet sister, try What Kitty Did Next, by Carrie Kablean. This overlooked Bennet sister finally gets to be the protag in this one. After Lydia leaves with her new husband, Kitty is a bit lost, but visits to the Bingleys and the Darcys begin to show her a new side of society. A new friendship with Georgiana Darcy replaces her previous closeness with Lydia, and readers can see silly Kitty maturing into a cheerful, but thoughtful, young woman. (Kitty, like the rest of us, can’t help wondering why Mary and Mr. Collins didn’t get married, but in this one, Mary happily marries a missionary and sets off for India.)
The Meyersons of Meryton
The Meyersons of Meryton, by Mirta Ines Trupp, opens right after the end of Pride and Prejudice, when the Bennets make the acquaintance of the Meyerson family through the Gardiners. After a few gauche comments from Mrs. Bennet, the two families soon become friends and even find themselves connected in a wild adventure in service to the crown. There’s a bit of info-dumping about Jewish customs, which slows the story, but it’s still fun to watch our beloved Bennet sisters discovering Jewish holidays.
Unmarriageable
Soniah Kamal’s Unmarriageable is an warm story about sisterhood and friendship, as well as a love letter to Pride and Prejudice. The five Binat sisters live in Dilipabad, a small Pakistani town just across the Indian border from Amritsar (the setting of the Bollywood spinoff Bride and Prejudice… is this not how everyone learns geography?). A family estrangement has left their branch struggling, unable to live as they used to, so the older girls teach English, while Mrs. Binat schemes about beautification to catch wealthy husbands. Teenage Lady flirts with everyone, Mari is a pedantic Quran reader, and youngest sister Qitty is chubby and forgotten. This has everything we love in P&P, with a distinctly Pakistani style.
Manga Classics: Pride & Prejudice
Finally, Manga Classics: Pride & Prejudice
is the graphic novel version of P&P, plus with gorgeous hairstyles, spastic Mrs. Bennett, and — most importantly — Darcy’s shirt just can’t stay on. The sisters of Longborn are beautiful in the typical fantasy-manga style of ringlets, roses, and tiered skirts, in direct contrast poor, plain Charlotte, and the hilariously exaggerated Mr. Collins. Not exactly a retelling or spinoff, but adds adorable art to the familiar story.