Jane Austen Retellings Archives

Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe

by Melissa de la Cruz

From the publisher: "Darcy Fitzwilliam is 29, beautiful, successful, and brilliant. She dates hedge funders and basketball stars and is never without her three cellphones—one for work, one for play, and one to throw at her assistant (just kidding). But when her mother falls ill, she comes home to Pemberley, Ohio, to spend the season with her family. Her parents throw their annual Christmas bash, where she meets one Luke Bennet, the smart, sardonic slacker son of their neighbor. Luke is 32-years-old and has never left home. He’s a carpenter and makes beautiful furniture, and is content with his simple life. He comes from a family of five brothers, each one less ambitious than the other. But why can’t she stop thinking of Luke?"

Bridget Jones’s Diary

by Helen Fielding

At the dawn of another New Year, Bridget Jones is 32, single, and desperate to take control of her life—so she starts keeping a diary. And such a diary. Bridget is a free spirit, fond of witty banter, enthusiastic about everything, and her enthusiasm lives on every page, where she shares her never-lukewarm opinions about everything from diet to work her love life. She may seem flighty, but she's always searching for deeper meaning. She also has great people skills. This might not be obvious when she first meets straight-laced barrister Mark Darcy (INTJ), but the novel is based on Pride and Prejudice, so of course they get off to a bumpy start.

Chirp

Dear Mr. Knightley

by Katherine Reay

You all keep saying this fresh update on Jean Webster's 1899 classic Daddy-Long-Legs is your favorite Katherine Reay novel; I think it might be mine as well. Samantha Moore spent her childhood struggling in the foster care system, relying on her favorite literary characters to survive. She even expresses herself using their words when she can't find her own. Samantha's big break comes when a "Mr. Knightley" offers her a full scholarship at the prestigious journalism school at Northwestern University. The only requirement is that Sam write her benefactor regularly to tell him about her progress. Through their correspondence, Sam begins to find her voice ... but then things get complicated.

Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice

by Curtis Sittenfeld

This is the fourth installment of the Jane Austen Project, which invites contemporary authors to rework Jane Austen's novels for modern times. Sittenfeld is no Jane Austen, but she's okay with that: her snappy writing and spirit of playfulness make this such good fun for Jane Austen fans, if you're willing to go with it. (Think what 10 Things I Hate About You did with The Taming of the Shrew. Our modern tale is set in Cincinnati, where Lizzie is re-cast as an NYC-based magazine editor, Jane is a yoga instructor nearing 40, Darcy is a snooty brain surgeon, and Bingley is an ER doctor turned star of the reality show "Eligible," (which, in a running gag, all the characters watch but pretend not to). If you're revolted at the idea of on-screen sex in an Austen remake, or Darcy and Liz spewing profanity, this is NOT for you. The purists will need their smelling salts.

Unequal Affections: A Pride and Prejudice Retelling

by Lara S. Ormiston

You all have been telling me to read this for YEARS, and last week I finally listened to the Audible version, which I quite enjoyed. I listened to this really fast because I wanted to find out what happens next.In this interesting twist on Pride and Prejudice, Ormiston imagines what might have happened had Elizabeth accepted Darcy's first proposal. This story focuses almost exclusively on the romance plot lines and is mostly dialogue, but I found it fun and entertaining, and—unlike so many other retellings—appreciated how Ormiston left the book's characters largely intact.

The Jane Austen Project

by Kathleen A. Flynn

Surprise, surprise, what do we have here? A Jane Austen time travel novel that's actually good! At some unspecified point in the future, the earth's atmosphere has been destroyed, food can no longer be grown, and wormholes to the past are in constant use. So when Rachel is asked to go back in time and retrieve the finished (yes, really!) manuscript of The Watsons, she jumps at the chance. But things do not go as planned... Gentle readers, this does not read like an Austen novel, and Janeite purists will need their smelling salts. But if you love Jane Austen AND Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, give this one a try. A paperback original. Publication date: May 2.

Jane of Austin: A Novel of Sweet Tea and Sensibility

by Hillary Manton Lodge

Like many devoted Austen fans, I approach most modern Jane Austen adaptations with a combination of enthusiasm and dread—I WANT it to be wonderful, but what if it's terrible? Readers, this new take on Sense and Sensibility was so much fun. In this novel, two broke adult sisters and their sweet little sister flee expensive San Francisco to set up a new tea shop in Austin, Texas. The bones of Austen's original are visible, but Lodge doesn't hew too closely to the original, to her credit. I spent a happy afternoon devouring this book.

Jane Austen Retellings