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:
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, 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.
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.
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