Monday, May 09, 2005

Austen adapted

Finished another retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice over the weekend. This book is entitled Vanity and Vexation: a novel of pride and prejudice by Kate Fenton. The new twist in this story involves a middle-aged reporter-turned-novelist, who moves to the country and stumbles into a real-life Pride and Prejudice plot. The Mr. Darcy character in this new P&P is a dark, arrogant, & headstrong female director named Mary. The Elizabeth Bennet character is reversed, and is now Nick Bevan, the novelist. Misunderstandings and mix-ups ensue, with much hilarity. One particularly neat device involves a "novel-within-a-novel" plot twist which surprises the reader halfway through the novel.

No comments: