Category: book review

Charlotte is a picture of domesticity. The bulk of the book is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice from Charlotte’s perspective but it takes us a while to get there. From Charlotte’s view we hear that “Mrs Bennet would be in danger of expiring with joy” when considering Mr Darcy’s proposal to Elizabeth. This is the best of the book, the new storyline isn’t as enchanting.

Charlotte maintains her sense, for at least some of the novel, and she observes that “Mr Darcy spoke too little, and Mr Collins too much.” It’s amusing to see how Mr Darcy’s visiting Elizabeth at Hunsford threw the peaceful household into “minor storms of domestic havoc.”

There are echoes of Emma as Charlotte realises that “it was poverty only that made celibacy contemptible in the eyes of the public,” something her new friend Anne de Bourgh as a wealthy woman will never have to worry about. As so often happens in adaptations Anne emerges as an entirely different character with a backbone.

It is comforting to see Charlotte really find her place in her marriage. She was “safe, appreciated and occupied” and that “while her husband did not often speak sense, he always spoke kindly” although she did sometimes suffer “a tax of mortification” for his words.

This story is really a continuation of Pride and Prejudice allowing us to see how Charlotte and Elizabeth cope with married life. It veers strongly from the characters in the original when it comes to Anne and later Charlotte, which feels like such a shame after getting to really appreciate her.

“In the midst of so large a family, (Mary) was utterly alone” and after the inevitable death of her father she is adrift in the world still attempting to find her place. I’ve often felt Mary was hard done by but this author manages to make me feel sorry even for Mr Collins and dislike the sweet Mr Bingley when they point out he only likes Jane because she’s beautiful. The book is something of a study in relationships. Charlotte becomes Mary’s confidant and they are so well suited you wonder why they weren’t friends before. Caroline Bingley rears her ugly head again as does Lady Catherine but it’s Mrs Bennet and her lack of affection for her daughter who is the real villain.

It’s a massive book, separated into five parts but it’s about half way through that it begins to feel like a different book. The first half is a continuation of Pride and Prejudice then at the half way mark it becomes your typical regency romance – a very drawn out one. The book is mostly told from Mary’s perspective (in third person) but we slide quietly into other characters thoughts and motivations reasonably regularly. At the start of the book there’s a sadness about her, a worry about finding her place which I identify with but makes it at times painful to read but don’t worry she has her happy ending.

The last we hear of Kitty Bennet in Pride and Prejudice is that she “spent the chief of her time with her two elder sisters. In society so superior to what she had generally known, her improvement was great.” Carrie Kablean takes us on Kitty’s journey of improvement in What Kitty Did Next. It’s inline with her fate as envisioned by Jane Austen, but I won’t spoil the ending by telling you!

As Kitty matures she’s able to see where she was led astray and why. Carrie agrees with a hypothesis I’ve long held, that Kitty was sick as a child. Lydia was not only the stronger character but also the stronger sister. Lydia remains “a force to be reckoned with” that threatens Kitty’s “peace and enjoyment” putting her “on her guard.”  It’s a shame Lydia is never allowed to grow up – not in the epilogue to Pride and Prejudice or in fanfiction.

Carrie does a fine homage to Austen’s writing with a few gems Austen could have written herself. Some so good, you’ll laugh out loud:

What Katy Did Next is a children’s book from the late 1800’s, published about 70 years after the events in What Kitty Did Next (published 2018). It makes the title of this novel have a familiar ring that you can’t quite place, a little like Carrie’s writing reminds you of Austen’s.

I read several reviews of Jane Austen The Secret Radical before reading the book itself. Reviewers Abigail Bok and John Mullan agree that there isn’t much new. This is amusing as Mullan’s What Matters In Jane Austen* has even less original material. I agree with him that Edward Ferrars and Catherine Moreland’s behaviour is unlikely to have Freudian undertones. But those who view Austen’s novels as romances may be surprised (“Jane’s novels aren’t romantic. But it’s become increasingly difficult for readers to see this.” p. 31); readers who know about Austen herself won’t be. 

Kelly (the author) points out that much of what we take for fact is hypothesis or family tradition. The book includes a lot of historical fact, not all of it solidly tied to Austen.  For example, abortion was legal during part of Austen’s lifetime (an interesting point as there is a movement to legalise it in NZ). She declares the real reason Jane Austen never married is because “sex can kill you” (p. 69). What then for Charlotte Lucas who married Mr Collins a “fate worse than death” (p.137)?

There are some strange ideas; that Mary Musgrove is pregnant, that Catherine never finishes the Mysteries of Udolpho, that Anne and Fredrick aren’t in love at the beginning of Persuasion, that Harriet and Jane Fairfax are sisters. But the most laughably absurd is that Mr Knightley has ulterior motives in marrying Emma and that he’s a “terrible landlord” ( p. 235).

Jane Austen The Secret Radical is written on the premise that “it’s impossible for anyone to write thousands upon thousands of words and reveal nothing of how they think or what they believe” (p. 30). But almost anything can be twisted to mean what you want it to – just look at The Bible. Do give it a read though, she might convince you.

All quotes from Kelly, H (2016). Jane Austen the Secret Radical. London: Icon.

*I recommend you read Jane Austen the Secret Radical over What Matters in Jane Austen. Or read both.

This review is also posted on the Jane Austen Society of Aotearoa NZ