The Other Bennet Sister

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A] spectacular debut. . . . Writing in prose with the crisp liveliness of Austen's own, Hadlow remains true to the characterizations in Pride and Prejudice without letting them limit her. . . . This will delight Janeites as well as lovers of nuanced female coming-of-age tales." Janice Hadlow’s first novel explores the predicament of Mary, the overlooked middle daughter of the Bennet household in Pride and Prejudice. Mary doesn’t have a story of her own in Austen’s novel – she’s there to serve as a foil to her sisters’ charm, and a temporary obstacle to their happiness. Bookish and gauche, Mary is the one who can be relied on to give an ill-judged performance on the pianoforte or deliver a sententious comment at exactly the wrong moment. By the end of the novel her circumstances have changed, but she has not; she’s still just as plain and awkward as she ever was, but with her sisters variously settled elsewhere, she is at least “no longer mortified by comparisons between her sisters’ beauty and her own”. Even someone unfamiliar with the bristling history of Pride and Prejudice pastiche fiction will see immediately that all this should make Mary Bennet irresistible to rewriters. And this has happened: with the possible exception of stories detailing just how miserable Elizabeth and Darcy end up being, stories attempting to rescue Mary Bennet from Jane Austen’s hands have been perhaps the most popular pastiche-fodder of them all. This is the story of Janice Hadlow’s debut novel The Other Bennet Sister, which obeys the first rule of Pride and Prejudice pastiche fiction by rolling out its own reflection of that novel’s opening line: The first part of the story encompasses Mary’s early years and, of course, a good portion of the events of Pride and Prejudice, all from Mary’s point of view. This could be in danger of coming across like an extended prologue but it just manages to avoid this by tying it into Mary’s character arc, rather than just simply recounting events from a different point of view, and the fact that it only goes up to a certain point in the original story before continuing with Mary’s. Even so, it’s bit of a slow start.

Mr. Bennet] captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humour, which youth and beauty generally give, had married a woman, whose weak understanding, and illiberal mind, had, very early in the marriage, put an end to any real affection for her. Respect, esteem, and confidence, had vanished forever; and all of his views of domestic happiness were overthrown. But Mr. Bennet was not of a disposition to seek 'comfort' for the disappointment which his own imprudence had brought on, in any of those pleasures which too often console the unfortunate of their folly or vice. He was fond of the country and of books, and from these tastes had arisen his principal enjoyments. [13] Mr. Bennet, the patriarch of the Bennet family, is a landed gentleman. He is married to Mrs Bennet, the daughter of a Meryton attorney, the late Mr Gardiner Sr. [8] Together they have five daughters; Jane, Elizabeth (" Lizzy"), Mary, Catherine (" Kitty"), and Lydia Bennet. None of the daughters is married at the beginning of the novel, much to Mrs Bennet's dismay given the likelihood of Mr Collins inheriting her husband's estate. I had expected to be given a different view of Mary and that was indeed the case. Growing up I always wanted to be Lizzy (don’t we all?) but was afraid that really I was much more of a Mary. Now that idea doesn’t worry me. What I didn’t realise was that I would also see an entirely new side to Mr Collins. I may have been unfair to him in the past! His indolence is a major point of friction between Mr and Mrs Bennet, as Mrs Bennet is constantly fretting about potential suitors for her five daughters while he pays no apparent attention to their future welfare. It may be also safe to say that, when he speaks of '[living] for making sport for [one's] neighbours, and laughing at them in our turn', he is referring to his own culpability. Le Faye, Deirdre (2003). Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels. London: Frances Lincoln. ISBN 978-0-711-22278-6.Mary does not appear often in the main action of the novel. However, it is said in volume 3, chapter 19 (the epilogue) that, now with Jane, Elizabeth, and Lydia married and moved out of Longbourn, and Kitty living primarily with Jane and Elizabeth, Mary received more attention, and was made to mix more with people during company ("Mary was the only daughter who remained at home; and she was necessarily drawn from the pursuit of accomplishments by Mrs. Bennet's being quite unable to sit alone. Mary was obliged to mix more with the world, but she could still moralize over every morning visit; and as she was no-longer mortified by comparisons between her sisters' beauty and her own, it was suspected by her father that she submitted to the change without much reluctance").

The other characters are rather different from their source material. Charlotte is turned into a rather vindictive person...which didn't really resonate with me. McAleer, John (1989). "The Comedy of Social Distinctions in Pride and Prejudice". Persuasions. No.11. pp.70–76 . Retrieved 30 January 2013. Maternal branch [ edit ] The three Gardiners from Meryton: Mrs. Philips, Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Gardiner. [17] When Mr. Collins is refused by Elizabeth, Mrs. Bennet hopes Mary may be prevailed upon to accept him, and the impression the reader is given is that Mary also harboured some hopes in this direction. ("[Mary] rated his abilities much higher than any of the others; ... and though by no means so clever as herself she thought that if encouraged to read and improve himself by such an example as hers, he might become a very agreeable companion").

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The narrator does not forgive her stupidity, nor her awkward interferences, and finds her absurd remarks and pretensions inherently selfish. When Jane asks her to feel gratitude to her brother, who had paid a lot of money towards Lydia's wedding, she replied that 'had he not had children, that she and her daughters will inherit all his property', and he has never been 'really generous so far' (" If he had not had a family of his own, I and my children must have had all his money, you know; and it is the first time we have ever had anything from him, except a few presents"). [36] Lydia's marriage does not satisfy her as much as she wanted, because her daughter did not stay long enough with her so that she could continue to parade with her. (" Lydia does not leave me because she is married, but only because her husband's regiment happens to be so far off. If that had been nearer, she would not have gone so soon"), [37] and if she was able to happily " for all her maternal feelings [get] rid of her most deserving daughters"; the marriage of Jane will only satisfy her " delighted pride" during the year that the Bingleys spent at Netherfield. [38] Kramp, Michael (2007). "4: Improving Masculinity in Pride and Prejudice". Disciplining Love: Austen and the Modern Man. Ohio State University Press. ISBN 978-0-814-21046-8. My weakness is I have a hard time resisting books associated with Jane Austen. But then the realization hits me that I already know those characters. Even though, Mary is a very interesting character and the writing is superb with wonderful sense of humor, it wasn’t enough for me. I think I’m expecting something new that would surprise me and it doesn’t come. Another emphasised and systematically ridiculed aspect of Mrs Bennet is her " nervous disease" or rather her tendency to use her alleged nervous weakness to attract compassion to herself, or else demanding that the family dance attendance on her, but ultimately failing to make herself loved. [31] There are characters particularly concerned about their health in all the novels of Jane Austen; those hypochondriacs that she calls "poor honey" in her letters. [32] These egocentric characters who use their real or imagined ailments to reduce all to them, seem to be inspired by Mrs Bennet, whose complaints about her health [31] had the ability to irritate Jane, [33] who speaks with certain ironic annoyance about it in her letters to her sister. [note 1]

If you thought Mary, the nerdy, plain sibling in Pride & Prejudice, was too dull to warrant her own novel, think again: In Hadlow’s imaginative retelling, the sister with no prospects finally gets some respect—and perhaps even a guy.” What if Mary Bennet’s life took a different path from that laid out for her in Pride and Prejudice? What if the frustrated intellectual of the Bennet family, the marginalized middle daughter, the plain girl who takes refuge in her books, eventually found the fulfillment enjoyed by her prettier, more confident sisters? This is the plot of Janice Hadlow's The Other Bennet Sister, a debut novel with exactly the affection and authority to satisfy Jane Austen fans.Her Mary is a sensitive, well-meaning young woman, who strives for the affection of her remote, sardonic father and beloved older sister, Lizzie. Hadlow invents for Mary an inner life that Austen denied her, complete with romantic yearnings that she tries to dampen.