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Pride & Prejudice fans?

103 replies

BIWI · 18/01/2026 22:17

New novel by comedian Rachel Parris:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/introducing-mrs-collins/rachel-parris/9781399751612

I really enjoyed this. Brings Charlotte to life very convincingly; makes Mr Collins and Lady Catherine de Bourgh more sympathetic - and adds a very satisfying element to her story.

OP posts:
Notonthestairs · 21/01/2026 08:03

BitOutOfPractice · 20/01/2026 22:52

I’d rather direct people to the new podcast - an unabridged reading of P&P, read by Julie Andrews. Possibly one of the most soothing things I have ever listened to. A story I kniw like the back of my hand, read in her dulcet tones. Absolute bliss.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/jane-austen-stories/id1840669662

Yes I’ve listened to that and thoroughly enjoyed it.

ObladiObladah · 21/01/2026 15:10

I downloaded the sample from Kindle and I realised immediately why Jane Austen’s novel is superior.

Within a few pages we are stuck reading long dull letters from Mr Collins who is an utter bore, so of course there is no entertainment value in reading a long letter he has written (though I must say I thought she captured his voice pretty well).

I wasn’t excited to read more so I shan’t be buying the whole book.

LadyAddle · 11/02/2026 19:41

WryNecked · 19/01/2026 09:12

Well, I’ve only read the free sample on Amazon, and that’s far from ‘well-written’. The prose is basic, it’s littered with psychological anachronisms, and Charlotte doesn’t appear to understand the basic meaning of a line from the New Testament that she’s embroidered. Lizzy Bennet behaves in ways JA’s character never would in a scene JA actually wrote, and Charlotte, having just broken the news of her engagement to Lizzy, goes home and gets into bed in the middle of the day, like Bridget Jones throwing a sulk.

But there’s clearly something of value to you that I’m not seeing. Which was why I asked.

Sorry, OP, I agree about the writing being poor, and I'm only listening to it, not reading. She swings between imitating an Austen style and a plain modern tone, and there's some clunky misuse of vocabulary which is like repeatedly stubbing your toe. A good editor should have picked up her confusing idiom with axiom, for instance, and using reserve for (I assume) resolve. And as for "Her cool grey eyes could have chipped ice into Elizabeth's as she rose and exited the room" that is just plain nonsense. I'm giving up on it, and it's a shame, because I do wonder about Charlotte's life after marriage. Joan Aiken is the one for me - I love Mansfield revisited.

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