"The Other Bennet Sister" by Janice Hadlow

As an avid reader of Jane Austen's novels, I am always looking for good-quality fan-fiction or fiction based on Austen's novels. The Other Bennet Sister focuses on the middle sister from Pride and Prejudice - the plain and bookish Mary. In the original novel as well as in film adaptions, Mary is annoyingly prudish, sanctimonious, overly serious, and strikingly unpretty - a caricature of a grouchy spinster in making.

About a third of the novel is dedicated to the events that transpired in Pride and Prejudice. However, rather than recounting the story, Hadlow gives us a glimpse into Mary's thoughts and feelings. She does a great job explaining why Mary is the way she is and provides justifications for her behavior, including her disastrous performance at the Netherfield ball and her marked admiration of the unlikable Mr. Collins.

We then jump two years into the future. All Bennet sisters but Mary are married, their father is dead, Mr. Collins and Charlotte take possession of Longborne, and Mrs. Bennet moves in with Mr. Bingley and Jane. Mary, however, cannot tolerate living under the same roof with her mother and Mr. Bingley's sister Caroline. Between her mother's sharp criticisms and Caroline's scornful bullying, Mary's existence is entirely unbearable. Only when she distances herself from her mother and sisters and their expectations, is she able to finally be herself and seek out her one path to happiness.

I thought this book was an excellent take on Austen's well-beloved novel. Mary is not a likable character in the original book. But why is she so? Hadlow masterfully examines the fate of a girl who is not as beautiful or as lively as her four sisters and their mother. She is bookish, intelligent, and shy. She wears glasses, does not know how to dress, and is socially awkward. Being constantly badgered by her mother, and laughed at by younger sisters, makes her even more awkward and shy. She is painfully unhappy and scared that her life will never be more than existing at the mercy of her relatives.

I also loved how Hadlow zeros in on social conventions of the time, especially as they pertained to women. A well-behaved girl could never write to an unmarried gentleman even though she knows they had a misunderstanding and yearns to provide an explanation. All she can do is wait and hope that the young man will one day pay her a visit.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and highly recommend it to all Austen fans. 4 out of 5 stars. My only complaint about the writing is that it was too long and slow in the beginning.