The Other Bennet Sister

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This story follows Mary from being a young girl who begins to understand that her mother does not seem to care for her because she is not as beautiful as her other sisters and seems plain in comparison. She is subject to her mother’s constant hounding as she blames Mary for her looks. Because of this, Mary decides to turn towards logic, reading challenging works, and studying the piano, but no matter what Mary does, there always seems to be a fault according to her mother. At one point, Hornby’s Cassandra worries that Jane will offend their plain and sententious sister-in-law, Mary Austen, by calling the unlikably plain and sententious Bennet sister in Pride and Prejudice “Mary”. Janice Hadlow evidently also felt that Mary Bennet was given a rough deal by her author and in The Other Bennet Sister sets out to redress the balance, by retelling the events of Pride and Prejudice and their aftermath from Mary’s perspective.

Martin, Lydia (2006). Pride and Prejudice , Joe Wright (in French). Liège: CEFAL. ISBN 978-2-871-30247-6. To have seen her daughters married to men of merely respectable means would have soothed away many of Mrs. Bennet’s anxieties; but to imagine them united to husbands of ample income and substantial property was for her a joy undimmed by frequent contemplation. Nothing made her happier than to think of them in possession of elegant houses and rolling parkland, certain of never hearing the dreaded word entail again. She was aware, of course, that wealthy men in want of wives were not easy to find and harder still to catch, especially by girls without large dowries. But she was undaunted. Her daughters, she believed, possessed an advantage that would enable them to triumph over all difficulties: other girls might be rich, but her daughters were beautiful. This, she was sure, was the blessing that would deliver them into wealth. Their looks would attract men of the first eligibility, dazzling their eyes, winning their hearts, and persuading them to ignore the promptings of cold, mercenary common sense. It was for Mrs. Bennet an article of faith that, in the absence of ten thousand pounds in the hand, a pretty face was the single most valuable asset a young woman could possess. Judge a book by it’s cover: I really enjoy the bright green and red cover of my copy. It brings out so much emotion which Mary must unleash within herself. Mary Bennet has already been the subject of many sequels and re-tellings (there is a great article on her character called There’s Something About Mary Bennet) but I don't think that Hadlow's vision of her is particularly compelling or improving.Talulah Riley (second left) as Mary Bennet in Pride & Prejudice (2005). Photograph: Allstar/Working Title But as Mary and Mr. Hayward become more connected with one another, Mr. Ryder, his friend and total Romantic, appears. Mr. Ryder also challenges Mary to be more emotional, but during the trips to the Lakes, Mary realises that Mr. Ryder can be so determined to feel emotions that he puts his own life into danger. Guilty negligences [ edit ] Mrs. Bennet looks for ways to let Jane and Bingley be alone together ( Hugh Thomson, 1894). Her pastimes are shopping and socialising. Her favourite daughter is her youngest, Lydia, who takes very much after her younger self. Next she values her eldest, Jane, though only for Jane's great physical beauty, and she never considers Jane's feelings, virtue, or reputation. Her least favourite daughter is Elizabeth (closely followed by Mary) whom she does not understand (or like) at all; when Mr. Collins was directing his 'enraptured heart' at Elizabeth, Mrs. Bennet thought them both together a perfect match purely because she does not like either of them (" Of having [Elizabeth] married to Mr. Collins, she [Mrs Bennet] thought with equal certainty, and with considerable, though not equal, pleasure. Elizabeth was the least dear to her of all her children; and though the man and the match were quite 'good enough' for her , the worth of each was eclipsed by Mr. Bingley and Netherfield"). What can I say? I liked the idea of this book and I love the cover...but the actual contents aren't my cup of tea. Maybe it gets better, maybe Mary changes...but life is short and if I read one more line on 'poor Mary' I might loose it...

Kamal, Sheelan S (2018). Trauma and Remedies for Traumatic Experiences in Four of Jane Austen's Novels (Thesis). ProQuest 2051788900. In short, Mary is miserable and is willing to try anything even securing the interest of the bumbling and bothersome cousin Collins who has come to Longbourn in search of a wife. If she thought her homelife was misery, being overlooked by Mr. Collins even after she put her best foot forward and made a horrid spectacle of herself at the Netherfield Ball teaches her that being invisible is even worse. Lydia Bennet [ edit ] Mary Pearson is thought to have been the model for Lydia. She was briefly engaged to Jane Austen's brother, Henry Thomas Austen. [42] In my opinion, Mary Bennet has always been somewhat of a question mark. Who is she? What does she dream of? And where is she going after the ending of Pride and Prejudice? Austen left Mary's story wide open for interpretation - and Hadlow is a great interpreter. Her story seems plausible as well as relatable. She develops a Mary, that you sympathize with and want the best for. And she adds a layer of cruelty to Mrs. Bennet that I found very credible. It’s probably understandable that the character of Mary Bennet in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice should attract the imagination of readers, since Mary Bennet is infamously a reader herself, albeit the unfortunate kind who are fond of canting their favorite ‘improving’ quotations at the worst possible moments. Even the most die-hard Janeites hardly need a re-read to notice that the other Bennet girls aren’t exactly bookworms; Jane and Elizabeth are gorgeous and insightful, Catherine and Lydia are high-spirited and coquettish, but only Mary would have been likely to know her way around the Meryton subscription library.

Another reboot of Jane Austen?!? Hadlow pulls it off in a smart, heartfelt novel devoted to bookish Mary, middle of the five sisters in Pride and Prejudice.

Mary’s drastic growth is seen in the reflection of Romanticism of the day (emotion) and the challenges for women to be able to study seriously (logic). Mary constantly tries to challenge public and polite notion of what a woman should and should not do (where spectacles, study Greek, not accept the first proposal she is offered, willing to be an old maid if she cannot marry for love, etc.) and she becomes more confident in these actions as she grows to balance her logic with her emotions. As a Jane Austen tribute novel, this book has plenty to recommend it. Hadlow is excellent in capturing the social nuances of the time. She shows the reality of middle-class women’s lives: the endless tedium and the economic and social necessity to find a suitable husband. I liked the characterisation of Mary but must confess to some dismay at the unsympathetic portrayal of Mrs Bennet: Mary’s plight shows how important it was for a family in reduced circumstances to marry its daughters well. Bottomer, Phyllis Ferguson (2007). So Odd a Mixture: Along the Autistic Spectrum in "Pride and Prejudice". London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN 9781843104995. I didn't want to pretend that, actually, she was a beauty in disguise. There was never a moment in my book where [there's a revelation like] "But why, Miss Bennett, you're really rather beautiful." You know, she I think she's a perfectly ordinary looking woman in a family of beauties. And I think that's very tough.Four of the five Bennet sisters of Meryton in Hertfordshire had sensibly provided themselves with good looks enough to be accounted beauties in the limited circles in which they moved. Jane, the eldest, was the most striking, the charms of her face and figure enhanced by the unassuming modesty of her character. Elizabeth, the second sister, made up in wit and liveliness for any small deficiencies in her appearance; whilst Catherine and Lydia, the two youngest, exhibited all the freshness of youth, accompanied by a taste for laughter and flirtation, which recommended them greatly to young men of equally loud and undiscriminating inclinations. Only Mary, the middle daughter, possessed neither beauty, wit, nor charm; but her sisters shone so brightly that they seemed to cancel out her failure and, indeed, eclipse her presence altogether, so that by the time they were grown, the Bennet family was regarded as one of the most pleasing in the neighbourhood.

I love a good Pride and Prejudice spinoff, or a modernized Austen in general, so of course I wanted to read The Other Bennet Sister! This spinoff tells the story of forgotten middle sister Mary Bennet. Austen, Jane (2010). Bury, Laurent (ed.). Orgueil et préjugés (in French). Translated by Bury (Nouvelleed.). Paris: Flammarion. p.17. ISBN 978-2-08-122951-8.Mary does work hard for her knowledge and accomplishments, reading publications such as James Fordyce's Sermons to Young Women, but misses the full meaning of almost everything she studies and has neither genius nor taste. Why doesn’t Mr Bennet have more time for the daughter who tries so hard to be sensible? Why don’t Mr. Collins and Mary get married, when they would so clearly live happily ever after? The Other Bennet Sister is a clear window into Pride and Prejudice and it's beloved cast of characters. But instead of Lizzie, this time we follow the other (rather forgotten) Bennet sister, Mary. Jane fans rejoice! . . . Exceptional storytelling and a true delight." —Helen Simonson, author of the New York Times bestselling novels Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and The Summer Before the War Delightful. . . . This is a charming and enchanting story . . . [that readers of Pride and Prejudice] will love, as will historical fiction readers looking for intelligent heroines with agency and heart."