The Other Bennet Sister (novel)

The Other Bennet Sister is a novel, heavily based on Jane Austen's influential 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice.^[1] Author Janice Hadlow re-uses the same characters as in Austen's novel, but changes the protagonist from witty and charming Elizabeth (Lizzy) Bennet, to the usually forgotten middle sister, Mary Bennet.

Reviews

In its review The Nerd Daily makes a point made by other reviewers -- while female readers might admire Pride and Prejudice's fearless and witty Elizabeth Bennet, most readers more closely resemble Mary Bennet.^[2] According to The Nerd Daily, Hadlow gives Mary an insight, similar to Elizabeth's, into her parent's flaws. According to the review, Hadlow makes Mary efforts a "journey of self-actualisation, towards self-esteem and self-worth, not just towards love."

In its review The Guardian asserts that, with a change of protagonist, reader's sympathies shift, too, to Mary, and her obstacles.^[3] The review notes how Hadlow has a few instances of kindness transform Mary from her previous boundaries. Living with her kindly aunt and uncle Gardiner, after her father's death, is transformative, since they do not place undue value on a woman's beauty, and their family can accept her kind heart.

Television spinoff

In 2024 the BBC announced it would be commissioning a 10 episode miniseries, based on the novel.^[1]

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Kimberley Bond (2024-10-10). "The Other Bennet BBC announces Pride and Prejudice spin-off". Harper's Bazaar magazine. Archived from the original on 2024-10-31. Retrieved 2025-02-02. Titled The Other Bennet Sister, the 10-part drama will focus on Mary Bennet – Lizzy’s supposedly unremarkable sister and the middle Bennet daughter that is typically overlooked.
↑ Carolyn Percy (2020-03-21). "Review: The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow". The Nerd Daily. Archived from the original on 2023-12-17. Retrieved 2025-02-02. In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, middle Bennet sister Mary is the ugly duckling in a nest of swans; serious and prim, with no apparent redeeming features and seemingly no prospects. The Other Bennet Sister shows another side to the middle Bennet sister: an introvert in a family of extroverts, overlooked by an aloof father, a mother who values beauty above all else, and siblings with whom she has little in common.
↑ Jo Baker (2020-01-11). "The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow review – what happened to Mary after Pride and Prejudice". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2020-01-11. Retrieved 2025-02-02. In The Other Bennet Sister, Mary begins very much as Austen depicted her – plain, awkward, overlooked – but she is now our protagonist. With this shift of focus, our sympathies shift too. We find ourselves flinching with and for, but no longer because of Mary. We come to understand what has made her the way she is.

[harpersbazaar2024-10-10-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Kimberley Bond (2024-10-10). "The Other Bennet BBC announces Pride and Prejudice spin-off". Harper's Bazaar magazine. Archived from the original on 2024-10-31. Retrieved 2025-02-02. Titled The Other Bennet Sister, the 10-part drama will focus on Mary Bennet – Lizzy’s supposedly unremarkable sister and the middle Bennet daughter that is typically overlooked.

[thenerddaily2020-03-21-2] Carolyn Percy (2020-03-21). "Review: The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow". The Nerd Daily. Archived from the original on 2023-12-17. Retrieved 2025-02-02. In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, middle Bennet sister Mary is the ugly duckling in a nest of swans; serious and prim, with no apparent redeeming features and seemingly no prospects. The Other Bennet Sister shows another side to the middle Bennet sister: an introvert in a family of extroverts, overlooked by an aloof father, a mother who values beauty above all else, and siblings with whom she has little in common.

[theguardian2020-01-11-3] Jo Baker (2020-01-11). "The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow review – what happened to Mary after Pride and Prejudice". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2020-01-11. Retrieved 2025-02-02. In The Other Bennet Sister, Mary begins very much as Austen depicted her – plain, awkward, overlooked – but she is now our protagonist. With this shift of focus, our sympathies shift too. We find ourselves flinching with and for, but no longer because of Mary. We come to understand what has made her the way she is.

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