What Kitty Did Next by Carrie Kablean is another Pride and Prejudice reimagining. This time, it’s focused on Kitty Bennet. Without Lydia, Kitty is a bit at a loss, but soon visits to the Bingleys and the Darcys show her a new side of society. A blooming 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 Mary happily marries a missionary and sets off for India.)

But their happy times are upset when Lydia invites herself to Pemberley just in time for the summer ball, where she tells others guests about Wickham’s connections to the estate. She hasn’t changed although her high spirits seem tacky to Kitty now. I think there was some subtext pointing to Wickham’s debts, why else would Lydia go for the £50 over drama and attention? Fortunately, Lydia remains unapologetic and self-absorbed, so we don’t feel too badly about her terribly husband.  A bit of drama leaves Kitty looking guilty, and Elizabeth is quick to assume that foolish little Kitty is at fault.

Back at Longbourn, the gradual improvement of Kitty’s relationship with her father is one of the strongest points in the book. Kitty’s growth and the resolution of the false accusations is a satisfying conclusion to the story of the Bennet sisters.  Kitty, happily married to her chosen husband, will surely visit the Darcys and Bingleys, with growing closeness between the three sisters. Mary is content as a missionary wife, and even Lydia, although still a family embarrassment, seems perfectly happy with “dear Wickham.”

Just a few pages into the story, Kitty says she’ll surely never marry a vicar, which obviously meant she was 100% certain to fall in love with one. So I was on the lookout for a suitable vicar throughout the book, reading the background descriptions of any eligible young men just as carefully as Mrs Bennet would have, but only to see if they were single with a career in the church. Naturally, Kitty does marry a vicar, but this is artfully done, with an impecunious suitor suddenly receiving a living near Pemberley, just in time for him to get married.