First published 2020
Mary Bennet has always been the plain, bookish middle daughter overshadowed by her four sisters. While Elizabeth and Jane find love and happiness, Mary retreats into her books and moral pronouncements. But what if her story took a different turn? In this reimagining of Pride and Prejudice, Mary breaks free from the role others have assigned her. She discovers that her love of learning and serious nature need not doom her to spinsterhood. As she grows into herself, Mary learns to shed the false ideas that have shaped her identity. She must decide what truly makes her happy rather than what others expect of her. Along the way, a man enters her life, but Mary faces a crucial choice about whether he represents genuine love or merely another form of settling. Her path leads away from the grand estates her sisters have found, but toward something equally valuable. Mary's transformation requires her to accept her true nature and recognize her own worth.
Genres: domestic-fiction, coming-of-age, contemporary, adult-fiction, british-literature, 21st-century, 19th-century, academic
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-growth, found-family, redemption-arc, second-chance
Setting: England
Period: 19th-Century, 21st-Century
463 pages · Hardcover · Henry Holt and Co.