Everyone knows the story of Elizabeth and Jane Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. But what about their sister Mary, she of the atrocious singing voice and the staidly religious bent of mind?
Master storyteller Colleen McCullough paints a life for Mary Bennet twenty years after Jane Austen's novel closes.
So far on in time, each of Mary's sisters is settled in her own way. Happily married Jane is the mother of many children; Elizabeth has to cope with an unwelcome social pre–eminence she had not envisioned; Lydia is still entranced by military officers; and Kitty is one of the stars of London's fashionable salons.
Events transpire that free Mary from her family obligations and dangle the allurements of independence before her hungry gaze. Fired with zeal by the newspaper letters of the mystery man Argus, she resolves to publish a book about the plight of England's poor. Plunging from one predicament into another, Mary embarks upon a mission of investigation that eventually leads her into mortal danger and reveals the surprising identity of Argus.
The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet is both a page–turning look at the ongoing lives of the Bennet sisters, and a sparkling romance that shows it is never too late to find love. Abounding with beloved characters in new guises as well as people we have not met before, it is funny, tragic, and eminently satisfying. This is a novel for every woman who has yearned to leave her mark upon the world – Colleen McCullough at her lively best.
I was wrong!!
I bought this book positive I was going to be disappointed. I'm not a Colleen McCullough fan & I love Pride & Prejudice so much that I was afraid it would be ruined for me OR that I would end up throwing $30 in the bin. BUT MARY'S STORY WAS REALLY ENJOYABLE. It's not written in the subtle drawing room manners style of Jane Austen & that's a good thing because otherwise it would just be a cheap copy. Instead, it's written in a really vibrant & alive fashion so it seems entirely Colleen McCulloughs own story. But the characters still ring true to Pride & Prejudice because their development into middle age (so to speak) is consistent with where & how Jane Austen started them. I must admit I always fantasized about Mary either dying young or being struck dumb (never to sing or moralize again) because I found her so irritating. Now I'm glad she didn't because I got to find out all about what happened next in the lives of the Bennet family.
Natalie, 11/12/2008
