Title: The Other Bennet Sister
Author: Janice Hadlow
Narrated by: Carla Mendonca
Publisher: Macmillian
Audio
Length:
Approximately 18 hours and 10 minutes
Source: Purchased from Amazon.com
Who is your favorite middle child in a book, show, or
movie? Mary Bennet from Pride and
Prejudice is one of my favorite middle children in literature and I love that
she has been getting books written about her that focus more on her story.
The Other Bennet Sister is a very interesting look at
Mary’s story. The first half of the book
is Pride & Prejudice retold from Mary’s point of view. After Mr. Collin’s proposal, the book skips
forward two years. The second half of the
book is about Mary finding her own way in the world and her own happiness. She visits many of the characters from Pride
and Prejudice and the reader is able to see how their lives have turned out.
I greatly enjoyed this audiobook. It made me really feel for Mary in a way I never
had before. I’ve read her as an object of
ridicule in many stories or even as her own mystery crime fighter. In this novel, the reader really gets to see
how Mary was the true middle child. Her
sisters older and younger than her paired off and left her alone. Her mother focused solely on looks and let
her know early on that she was plain and not worthy of her time. Mary wanted to have intellectual conversations
with her father, but he didn’t help her either.
It made me really sad for her. She
just wanted guidance and love from her parents and her family.
Luckily, Mrs. Hill and the Gardners are the real MVPs
of the story for having Mary’s back and helping her out when her own family did
not. I loved the romance that developed
in the book.
I also couldn’t believe this book made me really feel
for Mr. Collins. He admits that he is
socially awkward, and he just wants someone to love him. It was heartbreaking to learn his true
thoughts.
I read this for our JASNA Northwoods Book Club which
was this past weekend. We had an
enjoyable discussion on this book and other topics.
Carla Mendonca was a great narrator, and I adored this
audiobook. I know other reviews have
discussed how this book was too long, but it worked well with length and pacing
on audiobook.
I thought this book was very well done & held quite close to Austen's style - for a modern book! The length didn't bother me as it allowed time to develop the characters. Choosing Mary as the protagonist was clever & of the three or four Austen spin-offs that I've read, this was definitely the best.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many Austen retellings out there!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge!