"The Other Bennet Sister," by Janice Hadlow

I’ve written here before that Jane Austen spinoffs – prequels, sequels, stories focused on minor characters, mystery and zombie genre versions, etc. – range from pretty good, to only-so-so-but-mildly-fun-to-read, to awful. Last week I read an Austen spinoff that completely bowled me over: “The Other Bennet Sister” (Holt, 2020), by Janice Hadlow. This novel centers on Mary, the middle sister in the Bennet family in “Pride and Prejudice.” I admit that that focus caused me to hesitate; if Jane Austen herself gave Mary short shrift, mocking her a bit cruelly but mostly dismissing her, did I want to read a 463-page novel about her? The answer turned out to be, emphatically, yes! In the original novel, Mary is a plain, rather humorless young lady whose focus on books and their ideas seems labored, and whose speeches are didactic. Mary is largely lost in the shuffle of the Bennet family; the other members of her family are kind enough to her but mostly ignore her. She is the odd one out, in the middle, between the pair of her older sisters Elizabeth and Jane, best of friends, and another pair, her younger sisters Kitty and Lydia, also always together. But in the plentiful pages of Hadlow’s novel, Mary is given the glorious space to grow into a very interesting woman whom one wants to know more about. The qualities for which she is satirized by both Austen and the other characters in “Pride and Prejudice” are revealed to be positive ones, much more complex and with much more depth than “P and P” allows. For both the reader and Mary herself, there is a dawning realization of the depth of emotion Mary is capable of. As her world expands, we see her strength of character, her courage, and her capacity for joy. She increasingly appreciates not only the “improving” books she has always read, but also poetry, travel, beautiful things, and yes, love. She never has the “sparkle” that Elizabeth and the other sisters have to various degrees in “P and P,” but Hadlow wisely gives her a different path to self-discovery and, eventually, a joyful and meaningful place in the world. I can’t tell you much I admired and thoroughly enjoyed this book. The combination of its faithfulness to my much-beloved “Pride and Prejudice,” on the one hand, and Mary’s story being vastly expanded and extending into the future, on the other hand, is a potent and most satisfying one in Hadlow’s hands. I highly recommend “The Other Bennet Sister." I believe all but the most purist Jane Austen devotees will enjoy this novel immensely. Even those who haven't read "Pride and Prejudice" will enjoy it as well.