My Review

Lydia Bennet the youngest Bennet sister finally gets to tell her side of the story in this Young Adult Pride and Prejudice retelling.

I have read Pride and Prejudice at least 16 times most likely more. It is one of my all-time favorite books. I was super excited to read Lydia’s side of the story. I have read a lot of Jane Austen retellings but never any told from Lydia’s PoV. The beginning starts out promising but it was only downhill for there. I do have to say that Lydia was a fully developed character. Farrant breathed life into her character even though I felt most of the time she was completely untrue to Lydia’s character. Lydia is reckless, rude, wild, fearless, ignorant, and naive. The author got the naive part and some of the reckless part but nothing else. I felt that the author tried to justify a lot of Lydia’s rudeness and saying anything she wants. The justification doesn’t make sense about 75 percent of the time. I hated how this had such a modern feel(I know they are trying to get more teenagers to read the original book but it just didn’t fit). I also felt her relationship with her best friend and sister Kitty should have been a bigger part of the book. Writing a Jane Austen retelling is a tough thing for the best of writers and Farrant just wasn’t up to the task.

Rating: 2 Stars ( )

This book will transport you into the mind of Lydia Bennet, a 16 year old with a desire to leave boring behind. Discover what it feels like to be the youngest of five sisters in a time when respectability and status mean everything in 1811's society. The story is a diary and reads from Lydia's viewpoint throughout. Descriptions of Brighton and bathing (swimming) are interesting and vivid. Knowing her fate from Jane Austen, I was still rooting for another ending for Miss Lydia. Highly recommend this book as a companion read to Pride and Prejudice. ( )