Meanwhile, the other dearly loved characters of Pride and Prejudice fret about the missing Mary while they contend with difficulties of their own. Darcy's political ambitions consume his ardor, and he bothers with Elizabeth only when the impropriety of her family seems to threaten his career. Lydia, wild and charming as ever, drinks and philanders her way into dire straits; Kitty, a young widow of means, occupies herself with gossip and shopping; and Jane, naïve and trusting as ever, spends her days ministering to her crop of boys and her adoring, if not entirely faithful, husband. Yet, with the shadowy and mysterious figure of DarcyÕs right-hand man, Ned Skinner, lurking at every corner, it is clear that all is not what it seems at idyllic Pemberley. As the many threads of McCulloughÕs masterful plot come together, shocking truths are revealed, love, both old and new, is tested, and all learn the value of true independence in a novel for every woman who has wanted to leave her mark on the world.
The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet
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Book Description
Everyone knows the story of Elizabeth and Jane Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. But what about their sister Mary? At the conclusion of Jane Austen's classic novel, Mary, bookish, awkward, and by all accounts, unmarriageable, is sentenced to a dull, provincial existence in the backwaters of Britain. Now, master storyteller Colleen McCullough rescues Mary from her dreary fate with The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet, a page-turning sequel set twenty years after Austen's novel closes. The story begins as the neglected Bennet sister is released from the stultifying duty of caring for her insufferable mother. Though many would call a woman of Mary's age a spinster, she has blossomed into a beauty to rival that of her famed sisters. Her violet eyes and perfect figure bewitch the eligible men in the neighborhood, but though her family urges her to marry, romance and frippery hold no attraction. Instead, she is determined to set off on an adventure of her own. Fired with zeal by the newspaper letters of the mysterious Argus, she resolves to publish a book about the plight of England's poor. Plunging from one predicament into another, Mary finds herself stumbling closer to long-buried secrets, unanticipated dangers, and unlooked-for romance.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"A highly colored romp...it's fun to see Mary brought to life as an idealistic and unrealistic social reformer." -- The Washington Post
About the Author
Colleen McCullough was born in Australia. A neuropathologist, she established the department of neurophysiology at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney before working as a researcher and teacher at Yale Medical School for ten years. Her writing career began with the publication of Tim, followed by The Thorn Birds, a record-breaking international bestseller. She lives on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific with her husband, Ric Robinson.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet,
By Jane Fan (Colorado) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (Mass Market Paperback)
If you are a Jane Austen fan, you will not enjoy this book. McCullough is a perfectly good author, but takes too many outlandish liberties with some of Jane Austen's most beloved characters. She seems to take great pleasure in transforming the character of Austen's characters. (If that makes sense.) Darcy is unloving and haughty, Jane frumpy and weepy, and Mary beautiful and sensible. If McCullough had simply created the characters and put them into these circumstances, the book would have ok. Instead, she deliberately misreads and twists Austen's characters and makes them what they never were. Strange. I only finished the book because I had paid money for it :( and we were traveling. Don't waste your money on this book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not what you expect!,
By
This review is from: The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (Mass Market Paperback)
If you are a fan of Pride and Prejudice you will be extremely disappointed. As a work of fiction, the book is interesting to a certain extent but you will be kept busy keeping up with all the characters and plot twists. Ms. McCullough's morbid treatment of the characters gives you the impression that she has something against Jane Austen. I wish I had read the reviews for the hardcover edition before I bought the book; I just threw away $5.97 (Wal-Mart price).
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
for fans of Austen spins,
This review is from: The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (Mass Market Paperback)
Her sisters assume the bookworm spinster Mary Bennet will take care of their widow mom in her old age. The siblings each have their own lives although dreams from two decades ago never played out the way each thought it would be. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy share an unhappy marriage. Kitty the widow is lucky as her mate died just after they exchanged their vows. Jane is pregnant or recovering form pregnancy with no time for anything else. Lydia has become a drunk.
When her termagant mom dies, Mary feels relief as she can now live her life. Her sisters and their husbands are outraged when she says goodbye as she travels in Northern England keeping a journal on the plight of the working poor. However, the thirty-eight years old has never been anywhere alone so she runs into all sorts of trouble that she bravely faces like the Highwayman and the Prophet Father Dominus who abducts her into his cave. Meanwhile Mr. Darcy has political ambitions so he hires nasty but loyal Ned Skinner to keep the sisters in line as scandal would destroy his plans. Although it lacks the subtle humor of Jane Austen, this "sequel" to Pride and Prejudice is well written as it extrapolates where the characters could have gone two decades later. That is the strength and weakness of the story line as it is interesting to see where Colleen McCullough takes the Bennet sisters and their extended families. However, fans will find it difficult to accept what they become; for instance Mr. Darcy as an ambitious over the top of Big Ben villain or the bookworm becoming pretty, outgoing and touring the worst conditions she can find in the north. Fans who cannot get enough Austen spins will enjoy the quadrillionth twist. Harriet Klausner
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