PRIDE AND PREJUDICE SEQUELS ONLY GET MORE INTERESTING

Incredibly. I have read 116 Pride and Prejudice sequels and that covers a fraction of all that have been written.  It fascinates me to share the 'what if' plots that good writers (and some not so good) imagine..  The range is from bland, utterly boring, exciting, loving, 'feel good' reading, violent, suspenseful, supernatural (I've avoided these), taking place in the 1800s and the 2000s.


There have been so many versions of the Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy story that I could spend the rest of my life re-reading them and they would always seem as though it is a first read.  The fact that the major players remain the same and the authors stick roughly to the original script, I never know which way this story will be going.  For example, Mr. Bennet has out-lived his wife, been killed in a duel, shot and killed in a hunting accident,  died of a heart attack, or, in some stories, is still alive at the end of the book.  Mrs. Bennet has fallen backwards off a cliff and been killed, been just a silly, loud, tactless woman, violent, vicious, a loving mother, likable. unlikable, even totally ostracized by her community.

Caroline Bingley has been hateful, mercenary, jealous, intelligent, efficient and helpful, dead by her own hand, and even became a mother. I could go on and on with the differences and likenesses to the original by Austen.

Clearly, the men and women who write them are genuinely creative  They use Austen as one might a Rorschach test.  Each author, through Elizabeth and Darcy, lets the reader know a great deal about how the author sees the world and people in it.   Some are even based on the movie versions rather than Austen herself. Others are well researched historic novels.

Among my many addictions, reading these sequels remains one of my most indulged.