book review – Frances Duncan

Mr Collins in Love: author interview with Lee Welch

Lee Welch is a fantasy/historical romance writer based in Wellington. Like most Wellingtonians, she works for the government, but has a role inline with her interests: writing and editing. Mr Collins in Love is her first foray into Austen fiction, and she’s clearly done a great job; it was ranked as one of the top ten romance novels of 2025 by the New York Times. Lee has graciously agreed to answer my burning questions about her version of Mr Collins. [At the end there’s a chance for you to win a copy!]

Mr Collins, let’s be frank, sucks. What inspired you to reinterpret him? What influenced your interpretation of him? Why decide to give him love?

He doesn’t REALLY suck! Jane Austen simply misunderstood her own character. Hee hee, it still gives me a mischievous thrill to say that!

But seriously, I too was once a Mr Collins hater like every sensible person. Then, one evening I was idly rewatching the 2005 Joe Wright film with Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet. Tom Hollander plays Mr Collins, and, I feel, brings a certain earnest sympathy to the role, which was lacking, for me at least, in David Bamber’s portrayal of the character in the 1995 BBC TV series.

There’s a scene in the 2005 film that inspired me. It lasts a second or two. We see Mr Collins at Mr Bingley’s ball. He’s looking for Lizzie and can’t find her, and there’s this brief moment where he looks so lost and confused. I felt for the man, so obviously out of place in one of the greatest love stories ever told.

I thought; why shouldn’t he have a happy ending too? Why shouldn’t he be the hero for once? Because everyone deserves love, right? And because I write m/m romance (i.e. romance between men), it was obvious to me that his happy ending wouldn’t be with Charlotte Lucas, but with someone else entirely. And it all went from there!

How did you decide which details from the novel to include/recontextualise? Do you think Austen would have enjoyed this reinterpretation of her work and what kind of enjoyment do you imagine she might have received from it?

My first act was to jot down all the information Austen gives us about Mr Collins in the book, including some of the things he says. Then I started playing with what we know about him and trying to reinterpret those things from a sympathetic point of view. Why, for example, did he make no “useful acquaintance” at university? What would it have been like to have been brought up “under the guidance of an illiterate and miserly father”? I tried to use all the details that were pertinent to Mr Collins, while including none that didn’t centre him. That, for example, is why Lizzie doesn’t appear on the page in my book, because frankly, she’s not that important to him or his story, whereas Charlotte must appear on the page because he marries her. She’s important to him because her presence in his house will affect the man he loves.

The hardest detail for me to recontextualise was a line in Mr Collins’ letter to Mr Bennet after Lydia has run off with Wickham. Mr Collins writes “The death of your daughter would have been a blessing in comparison to this.” That’s quite a thing to say and it took me a while to come up with a way to interpret that in a charitable light! I think I managed it but of course readers will have to judge for themselves.

I’m afraid if the real Jane Austen read my story she’d be horrified and offended. Mr Collins, in love with another man! That love returned! She was a woman of her time, and a Christian, and respectable people didn’t approve of such things back then.

If she’d been born in our times, I expect she wouldn’t have minded about Mr Collins being gay, but she might have felt I’d been rather kind to her odious little clergyman.

Let’s talk about Jem, the “love interest”. Jem is a difficult character for the reader to understand. Does this reflect Mr Collins own struggles? Was it important to you that Jem belonged to a different social class? It seems like Jem understands who he is, and who Mr Collins is, in a way Mr Collins doesn’t – how/why?

Is Jem difficult to understand? Of course it WAS intentional for Mr Collins to sometimes be confused by Jem and his actions. To my mind, Jem is very clear in his motivations and intentions: he’s had a hard life. His father died. His brother was a bully. People thought him ugly and said so. One person, and one person alone, showed him friendship and loyalty – young Master Willie, our Mr Collins. It’s telling that when he’s in trouble, Jem goes to Mr Collins for help. They trusted each other once and in the book they learn to trust one another again.

I did contemplate having a love interest for Mr Collins who was of the same social class, but the fact that Austen tells us he made no acquaintance at university kept prodding me. Since he found it hard to make friends, I felt I needed someone who would have been around him for long enough to realise that he’s a kind and decent person. So, it made sense that Jem would be working class because that way he’d be at young Master Willie’s house doing his job; they would have been thrown together.

I agree that Jem understands who he is. He’s lived, he’s been out in the world, and has clear ideas about right and wrong. He’s a gentle man who’s found the world to be horribly harsh. He wants to escape the cruelty and violence, to be treated decently, and valued as a friend…or maybe something more.

Mr Collins understands himself quite well, actually. He knows his preferences and limitations, and is justifiably proud of the way he navigates the world. The problem for him is other people! They don’t accept his preferences and limitations, so he must keep things secret and pretend all the time. It’s exhausting, and he’s constantly terrified of making a mistake. Because other people’s habits and reactions are so odd (to him) he doubts himself a lot of the time. Also, he finds the ‘helpful advice’ people give him is generally no help at all.

I meant that Jem seems to be aware of their, presumably shared, sexual identity. Perhaps even outside of their relationship.

As a working-class boy with older brothers and other boys about, Jem would have learned about various sexual acts much earlier than friendless young Master Willie. It’s from Jem that the young Mr Collins learned that secret sexual activity was possible between men. Jem’s been in the navy, too. He’d have been aware of a fair bit of sex, though lots of men will have sex with other men if there aren’t any women around – it doesn’t mean those men are “gay” (not that they’d have used that word in Mr Collins’ time!) and Jem wouldn’t have assumed so. He knows there are other men who aren’t interested in women, but I don’t think he thinks in terms of “identity”; he just knows what he likes, and he isn’t interested in finding anyone else.

In any case, the book is told solely from the point of view of Mr Collins, and he has never really discussed sexuality with Jem, beyond them both setting a couple of simple limits when they were young. Mr Collins never questions Jem’s preferences; he simply accepts them, as Jem does his. I think the lack of interrogation is something they both very much appreciate; how wonderful to find someone who simply accepts you as you are!

As someone who is both queer and neurodivergent, it was refreshing to see some of my own identity on the page in relation to Austen. Why or how was this book important to you?

I see no reason why we shouldn’t queer Austen or any of the classics and thus get the books we hoped for growing up.

The same goes for a neurodivergent character – why shouldn’t he get to be the hero?

It felt very important to write a book that reassesses a character who’s been ridiculed and loathed for over a century. I’m often horrified at how judgemental people can be, and how quick they are to interpret the actions of others in the worst possible light. But if you see things from the point of view of that person, you may see that they’re doing their best in a difficult situation, and that they are, in fact, a person of considerable kindness and bravery.

The fans will definitely want more. What other Austen characters would you be keen to reinterpret? Who else could be quietly queer? What’s next for you?

Ha ha, I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint readers who are hoping for a queer Marianne Dashwood or whoever. I’ve written four books and while they’re all m/m romance, that’s the only similarity. I tend to gravitate to something completely different each time.

Thanks for your time, Lee. I really enjoyed this novella and recommend interested readers purchase it from Amazon or most other online bookstores (print only from Amazon, audiobook also available). Looking forward to future Austen works from you (fingers crossed) and hopefully seeing your face at Austen meetings.

If readers would like to go into the draw to win a free ebook of Mr Collins in Love, please email Lee at leewelchwriter@gmail.com before the end of Feb with the subject “JASANZ entry for Mr Collins ebook”.

For more info on Mr Collins in Love and Lee’s other books please visit https://leewelchwriter.com/

Book Review: Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field

Review of the Melissa Nathan novel

Jasmin Field is, almost accidentally, cast as Elizabeth Bennet on stage after she uses her anger at being called the “ugly sister” to give the director (famous actor Harry Noble) a telling off (still on script) during her audition.

Harry pretty quickly admires her “dark eyes” and the soul they are a window to he finds “compelling.” Of course, their story mirrors that of their stage counterparts (he’s not originally Darcy but you know he will be). When he gives her a ride home she berates him for not speaking, just as Lizzy did at the Netherfield Ball, “Do you offer people lifts to ignore them in a confined space?”

There are some excellent character descriptions:

The woman looked as if she had suddenly woken up one day and thought, How can I make myself as unattractive and possible? and come up with a damn fine answer.”

“the only 100% straight man who minced like a true thespian.”

Bridget Jones, another book with flavours of Pride and Prejudice and a journalist main character, is mentioned. This novel feels similar; women desperate for men (even though they know they shouldn’t be), diet culture and of course it’s also set in London. There’s something about the style, which may be due to the time it was written, that feels familiar.

True Austen irony crops up when at the audition Harry states that “It would damage my reputation to be seen at the same nightclub as most of these people, let alone direct them in a play,” and the novel ends with the after party in the nightclub where Harry is present.

The cast of characters is huge; those on and off stage have stories that parallel Austen’s but all seem blissfully unaware of it. But the reader can enjoy the anticipation of each plot point.

Perspective switches between characters within paragraphs. This tends to be a no-no in writing these days but I rather enjoy seeing into others motivations.

Despite being a product of it’s time (first published in 2000) this was a delight to read.

I’ll leave you with my favourite quote (apologies for the toilet humour):

Backstage was a dark terrifying place. As were Jazz’s bowels. She wondered if she could hide a toilet under her petticoat.”

Book Review: Being Mary Bennet

A novel by J.C. Peterson

My introduction to Jane Austen was the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (you know the one, it has Colin Firth in a wet shirt) on Montana Sunday Theatre. The family, like the rest of the world, was obsessed. We recorded it on VHS and watched it over and over (to be fair, the over and over part may have just been me). Every member of our family was designated a character; mine was Mary Bennet. I was distraught. Sure, I liked reading but I wasn’t boring or ignorable. Was I?

I didn’t relish being equated to “one of literatures’ famous wet rags” because “Mary’s no hero”; she’s the easiest Bennet to remove from an adaptation, she serves no function in the major plot lines. But J. C. Peterson’s Being Mary Bennet opens with the line; “It is a truth universally acknowledged that no one should spend her eighteenth birthday at the library.” I spent my most recent birthday at the library and I loved it! There were cupcakes, quiet reading, my favourite librarian, my favourite niece and favourite sister. (It’s ok my other sisters won’t read this anyway.)

It’s only in recent years that I have come to accept that in some ways, I am Mary Bennet. We’re both from large families and struggled to be visible or acceptable. I know now that part of the reason, at least for me, was due to undiagnosed neurodivergence, living in a word that wasn’t made for me. At one time I heavily identified with a devastating line from Katherine J Chen’s Mary B “How could I, little weed, be a favourite of anyone?” (in that book Mary does become a heroine).

Reading Being Mary Bennet was almost revolutionary. I identified so strongly with Marnie as she takes a journey to kick her Mary-ness, worries that her family doesn’t notice when she’s not there, and despite trying new things still needs to organise her books “just so.” But she discovers people who love her, like they say in Bridget Jones “just as she is.”

Mary may not have main character energy, she may be inconsequential to the heroines story line but does it matter? Some people may only ever see Mary, and that’s their loss.

Book Review: Most Ardently

Novel by Gabe Cole Novoa

The dedication alone made me want to cry, the first chapter repeated the feeling. As an aim (romances that sweep trans people off their feet) it’s a noble one and it is my humble belief that the author achieves it.

There are a lot of changes from the original Pride and Prejudice on which this is based; it’s set in London, everyone is younger (referred to as boys), there are a lot of anachronisms and, oh yeah, Lizzy Bennet is Oliver Bennet. I’ve no doubt there have been queer and trans individuals throughout time, but I do doubt they would be as easily accepted as Oliver is (but then having Jane as a sister – she’d accept you no matter who you were).

For every boy who wished that Darcy would love them, this book is wish fulfilment for you. For every transman who wished for acceptance from their family, this story may tell part of your journey. Oliver fears how he will be treated but so desperately wishes to be himself (trigger warning for gender dysphoria).

Some Austenites are purists but I adore each new retelling especially when it delves into unexplored areas. Austen was inventive and revolutionary in a quiet way; I believe she’d cheer on those that follow in her footsteps.

Book Review: The Unexpected Past of Miss Jane Austen

Novel written by Ada Bright and Cass Grafton

There’s something meta about this book mentioning truth is stranger than fiction; Jane Austen appears at the museum dedicated to her, characters are linked across time and bloodlines. If you missed the first book (like me); Jane Austen has a necklace that lets her travel through time! Now you’re caught up.

It’s written by a pair who’ve produced several Austen inspired books. I’m working on a partnership myself – glad to see they work!

Rose (with her new beau) is pulled back in time by Jane Austen. The difficulties of daily life for a modern person dealing with lack of plumbing and electricity are brushed over, focusing instead on the emotional journey of the characters. Lack of medicine does play quite a large part in the plot but its the constant little annoyances, the minutiae, that are missing.

Austen family members make an appearance and are drawn in broad strokes; Mrs Austen, difficult; Cassandra, helpful; Edward, upright; Charles, mischief maker. Jane Austen herself is more difficult to pin down, a lot relies on the friendship established in the previous book.

It’s very readable, has a little bit of chemistry, but may only be interesting to those who are already fans of Austen.

It’s not clear if this sequel was planned, but a third was (the end points to it); an outline existed in July 2020 but it hasn’t been mentioned since. Let’s be fair though, the pandemic derailed a lot of plans. If it’s ever published, I’ll read it.

Book Review: Emmett

Review of Emmett by L. C. Rosen

In the tradition of Clueless this adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma is set in a rich kids high school. In fact Emmet would slide right into Bronson Alcott High; he’s also very like Cher – aware of his privilege, trying to do good, but pretty clueless. The Mr Elton character even responds to Emmet’s attempting to match him with “Harriet” with “as if.”

Earlier in the year I attended a script reading of Em by Sam Brooks, also a queer take on Emma with a main character named Emmet. (Someone please stage this play and invite me, I beg you.) So the name and concept is having it’s time.

I adore (most) Austen adaptations and have a soft spot for those that include diversity, which this has in spades. It’s an upbeat book but doesn’t shy away from the difficulties of sexuality, family, loss and the façade of social media. Once you get past figuring out who each character represents (took me till mid way to recognise Miss Bates) the sense of anticipation is electric; you know what’s coming, but they don’t. Oh, and the delight when you predicted correctly!

Reading about teens having sex is uncomfortable (reading about anyone having sex is uncomfortable for me) but it’s never literally shown and messages of physical and emotional safety are central. The difference in how Gen Z conduct relationships than previous generations is summed up pretty well. “I didn’t profess my undying love for you… I offered you some sex. It’s not a big deal.”

Emmet is a wonderful modernisation of Emma; they share a philosophy of ‘the ends justify the means.’ He congratulates himself on a job well done when he only made one over-worked person pass out.

Book Review: What Would Jane Austen Do?

Review of the novel by By Linda Corbett

Of course I was going to pick up this book, it’s a phrase very close to my heart. (Have I mentioned my whole “Jane Austen as Life Coach” thing?) Despite the few things I point out that could have been better it was an excellent read and hard to stop thinking about till I finished it. A charming Austen / cosy /chick lit read.

Maddy has the coolest job ever, but like most in Romancelandia not necessarily one you could actually make a living from, she’s an agony aunt in the persona of Jane Austen. After a firing she never investigates (hello employment laws?) she takes an unexpected opportunity to move to the country when she inherits her long-lost-black-sheep-second-cousin’s house. As all small places in books have, quirky characters abound. There’s a Mr Darcy author character, he and his dog end up “lodging” with Maddy.

There’s a romance but all sex is off page, there’s a Wickham character but he doesn’t pack much punch, there’s a mystery but it doesn’t get fully resolved. Why her cousin was ostracised is never explained and his redemption wasn’t much of one either. This could have been explored further. It would have been lovely for her to work out why her cousin chose her to inherit, why he chose never to contact the family (which could have been explained if his reasons for leaving had). Honestly, I assumed he was gay and either he excommunicated himself knowing his parents would disapprove, or they kicked him out.

It’s unfortunate that the cover and even the blurb don’t entirely match the inside of the book, though not an unheard of occurrence in publishing, still disappointing. Equally disappointing is the main character apparently being a journalist but not understanding basic journalistic principles.

Also there were bodies found during a building project? Who cares if they’re ancient! Tell us everything!!

Pride and Premeditation

The quotes that open this book assured me it was right up my alley – Agatha Christie and Jane Austen. It joins two of my great interests, Austen and murder (in a purely intellectual sense). The release of the latest book in the series reminded me to finally start reading it.

Purists (Austen or period) need not apply but there’s something for everyone else. Pride and Prejudice moves the physical location from rural Hertfordshire to the London legal scene but loosely maintains the era. Lizzie is desperate to work at her fathers legal firm and be appreciated for her brain rather than her reproductive abilities. In her attempts to prove herself she investigates an accused murderer, Mr Bingley, and battles his lawyer, Mr Darcy.

There’s underlying commentary on race, class, feminism and unexpectedly, justice. Lizzie Bennet has always been relatable because of her modern sensibilities and the new context allows her to shine. Tirzah isn’t restricted by Austen’s characters, interpreting them in new and insightful ways.

The ending is a satisfying rush to revelation but threads remain for future books to explore. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.

Book Review: The Bennet Women by Eden Appiah-Kubi

The Bennet Women is set in an American university residence hall amongst a diverse cast of women – Black, Asian and Trans. One of the lovely things about this representation is that these identities do not define the characters. Nor are their experiences used to traumatise the character or reader – we are all aware who they are, it’s constantly in the back of their minds. There is a very satisfying scene where EJ (Lizzy) clearly articulates exactly what life is like as a female engineering student; she views this speech as a failure but I wanted to applaud.

Adaptations, fanfiction “based on” and “inspired by” stories give us an opportunity to wonder “what if?” What if Lizzy was a black woman? How would this identity influence her life, her character, her actions? It’s a delight to revisit characters and plot points with the authors new twist. Lady Catherine seemed to be absent, I only recognised her when she confronts EJ.

A lot of the conflict from Pride and Prejudice is avoided and I like that. I’m not a fan of conflict. The characters actually communicate, they go to therapy, they assess situations maturely (most of the time). It’s a relief to escape the boring trope of characters not being able to be together because “reasons.” This awareness means that Wickham’s grooming young vulnerable women goes from sub text to text, these women are equipped to recognise a predator.

Two plot points were left to drift. EJ and her family don’t deal with the borderline eating disorder she had when she was younger, it’s mentioned then brushed off. They do deal with other reasons she gave up dancing which was a wretch to her younger self. EJ and Will (Darcy) agree to take down Jordan (Wickham) but never follow through, he does get his comeuppance but we don’t get to witness it. The ending drags a little but is necessary to tie up other loose ends. But it must be pointed out that everyone knows Dr Who is not filmed in London (read the book to find out why that’s relevant).

Book review: Help me! By Marianne Power

Subtitle: One woman’s quest to find out if self-help really can change her life

A friend recommended this book because I’m interested in personal development and I’m glad that she did. A certain part of me felt smug reading this, compared to Marianne I had my life together. But like Marianne I had to work to get there. Perhaps I don’t push myself out of my comfort zone often enough but sometimes every day things will scare me and I keep going.

Marianne planned to read one self-help book a month, for a year. But life got in the way, momentum was hard to maintain, and it stretched out to 16 months. She did read those 12 books with varying degrees of success. She would seem to find what she was looking for in one book then lose it when she turned to the next. I think to make these really successful you need to stick to the philosophy of one book or idea instead of trying several potentially conflicting ones.

She narrowly misses reading a book I read and loved; Get Rich, Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield Thomas. – I’ve even done the online course that’s attached to it. Come to think of it, I’ve done an online course on dating too, perhaps online courses are my self-hep books. – I think she could have really got into Denise’s work which is all about having earning good money while living a good life rooted in self love.

Some of Marianne’s experiences are universal, like that crazy voice in your head and trying so hard to make things better that you just make them worse. She had some great epiphanies as her year(ish) progressed including that “we think we want to change but we don’t really…it’s too scary” alongside worries she was a “spoilt brat” and the whole thing was “self-indulgent nonsense.” Perhaps the most relatable moment was when she ran into someone more enlightened and she “couldn’t tell if (she) wanted to punch her or be her.” Marianne also discovered therapy, something I think everyone should do, and her therapist pointed out that all the self-help books in the world won’t help as you’re still reading them from the same brain.

At the core of this book is a real person. Brenè Brown talks about the importance of vulnerability and writing this book was an act of vulnerability. I’m so invested in her life now, I want to know how she is, is she doing ok? (You can find out on her website)