Colleen McCullough's, The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (2009) brings you 20 years into the future following Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and the effect is jarring.
Why McCullough chose to write about what could be the most overlooked and possibly the most undervalued of Austen's characters, we'll never know. She must have known there was potential for a deeper story.
In the years that have passed, Elizabeth's marriage has fallen on hard times, Jane is naught but a baby factory, Kitty is a widow and Lydia is well... Lydia's stripes and spots are ever the same.
We find Mary caring for her ailing mother and when she passes within the first chapter of the book her adventure begins. Refusing the offer of staying with either the Darcys at Pemberley or the Bingleys at their Manor, Mary sets off un-chaperoned to the North to investigate the atrocities inflicted on the indigent.
McCullough could be criticized for not truly adhering to the idea of a sequel mainly because she brings too many elements of the real world to the forefront in this Austenian scene. Mary travels alone and is set upon by ruffians. We hear details of Bingley and Darcy's possibly dealings with slave trade in the New World. Child labor and exploitation are main themes the entire second half of the novel.
The rest of my review is here: http://www.examiner.com/x-45045-Jane-Austen-Sequel-Examiner~y2010m4d27-Review-The-Independence-of-Miss-Mary-Bennet
Why McCullough chose to write about what could be the most overlooked and possibly the most undervalued of Austen's characters, we'll never know. She must have known there was potential for a deeper story.
In the years that have passed, Elizabeth's marriage has fallen on hard times, Jane is naught but a baby factory, Kitty is a widow and Lydia is well... Lydia's stripes and spots are ever the same.
We find Mary caring for her ailing mother and when she passes within the first chapter of the book her adventure begins. Refusing the offer of staying with either the Darcys at Pemberley or the Bingleys at their Manor, Mary sets off un-chaperoned to the North to investigate the atrocities inflicted on the indigent.
McCullough could be criticized for not truly adhering to the idea of a sequel mainly because she brings too many elements of the real world to the forefront in this Austenian scene. Mary travels alone and is set upon by ruffians. We hear details of Bingley and Darcy's possibly dealings with slave trade in the New World. Child labor and exploitation are main themes the entire second half of the novel.
The rest of my review is here: http://www.examiner.com/x-45045-Jane-Austen-Sequel-Examiner~y2010m4d27-Review-The-Independence-of-Miss-Mary-Bennet
Colleen McCullough's, The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (2009) brings you 20 years into the future following Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and the effect is jarring.
Why McCullough chose to write about what could be the most overlooked and possibly the most undervalued of Austen's characters, we'll never know. She must have known there was potential for a deeper story.
In the years that have passed, Elizabeth's marriage has fallen on hard times, Jane is naught but a baby factory, Kitty is a widow and Lydia is well... Lydia's stripes and spots are ever the same.
We find Mary caring for her ailing mother and when she passes within the first chapter of the book her adventure begins. Refusing the offer of staying with either the Darcys at Pemberley or the Bingleys at their Manor, Mary sets off un-chaperoned to the North to investigate the atrocities inflicted on the indigent.
McCullough could be criticized for not truly adhering to the idea of a sequel mainly because she brings too many elements of the real world to the forefront in this Austenian scene. Mary travels alone and is set upon by ruffians. We hear details of Bingley and Darcy's possibly dealings with slave trade in the New World. Child labor and exploitation are main themes the entire second half of the novel.
The rest of my review is here: http://www.examiner.com/x-45045-Jane-Austen-Sequel-Examiner~y2010m4d27-Review-The-Independence-of-Miss-Mary-Bennet
Why McCullough chose to write about what could be the most overlooked and possibly the most undervalued of Austen's characters, we'll never know. She must have known there was potential for a deeper story.
In the years that have passed, Elizabeth's marriage has fallen on hard times, Jane is naught but a baby factory, Kitty is a widow and Lydia is well... Lydia's stripes and spots are ever the same.
We find Mary caring for her ailing mother and when she passes within the first chapter of the book her adventure begins. Refusing the offer of staying with either the Darcys at Pemberley or the Bingleys at their Manor, Mary sets off un-chaperoned to the North to investigate the atrocities inflicted on the indigent.
McCullough could be criticized for not truly adhering to the idea of a sequel mainly because she brings too many elements of the real world to the forefront in this Austenian scene. Mary travels alone and is set upon by ruffians. We hear details of Bingley and Darcy's possibly dealings with slave trade in the New World. Child labor and exploitation are main themes the entire second half of the novel.
The rest of my review is here: http://www.examiner.com/x-45045-Jane-Austen-Sequel-Examiner~y2010m4d27-Review-The-Independence-of-Miss-Mary-Bennet
