History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

Susan: A Jane Austen Prequel Author: Alice McVeigh Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Warleigh Hall Press Release Date: 2021 Pages: 342 Source: Personal Collection  Synopsis: Susan is a Jane Austen Prequel (or Pride and Prejudice Variation) brilliantly capturing Austen's own Lady Susan as a young girl.        Familiar characters abound - Frank Churchill, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr Collins - but Susan - mischievous and manipulative - is the star. This is Austen that even Austen might have loved, with a touch of Georgette Heyer in the romantic sections. Fans of Bridgerton will also relish this classic regency romance, the first in a six-book series.        Sixteen-year-old Susan Smithson - pretty but poor, clever but capricious - has just been expelled from a school for young ladies in London.         At the mansion of the formidable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, she attracts ...

The Other Bennet Sister Author: Janice Hadlow Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. Release Date: 2020 Pages: 480 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Mary, the bookish ugly duckling of Pride and Prejudice’ s five Bennet sisters, emerges from the shadows and transforms into a desired woman with choices of her own.      What if Mary Bennet’s life took a different path from that laid out for her in Pride and Prejudice ? What if the frustrated intellectual of the Bennet family, the marginalized middle daughter, the plain girl who takes refuge in her books, eventually found the fulfillment enjoyed by her prettier, more confident sisters? This is the plot of Janice Hadlow's The Other Bennet Sister , a debut novel with exactly the affection and authority to satisfy Jane Austen fans.      Ultimately, Mary’s journey is like that taken by every Austen heroine. She learns that she can o...

Editor: Christina Boyd Narrator: Victoria Riley Length: 18 hours and 3 minutes Series: The Quill Collective, Book 3 Publisher: The Quill Ink, LLC Released: Jul. 18, 2019 Genre: Anthologies  “But I hate to hear you talking so, like a fine gentleman, and as if women were all fine ladies, instead of rational creatures. We none of us expect to be in smooth water all our days.” ( Persuasion , Jane Austen)  Jane Austen: True romantic or rational creature? Her novels transport us back to the Regency, a time when well-mannered gentlemen and finely-bred ladies fell in love as they danced at balls and rode in carriages. Yet her heroines, such as Elizabeth Bennet, Anne Elliot, and Elinor Dashwood, were no swooning, fainthearted damsels in distress. Austen’s novels are timeless classics because of their biting wit, honest social commentary - because she wrote of strong women who were ahead of their day. True to their principles and beliefs, they fo...

Mary B: An Untold Story of Pride and Prejudice Author: Katherine J. Chen Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Random House Release Date: July 24, 2018 Pages: 336 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: The overlooked middle sister in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice casts off her prim exterior and takes center stage in this fresh retelling of the classic novel.      What is to be done with Mary Bennet? She possesses neither the beauty of her eldest sister, Jane, nor the high-spirited wit of second-born Lizzy. Even compared to her frivolous younger siblings, Kitty and Lydia, Mary knows she is lacking in the ways that matter for single, not-so-well-to-do women in nineteenth-century England who must secure their futures through the finding of a husband. As her sisters wed, one by one, Mary pictures herself growing old, a spinster with no estate to run or children to mind, dependent on the charity of others. At least she has the sile...

The Pursuit of Mary Bennet: A Pride and Prejudice Novel Author: Pamela Mingle Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks Release Date: 2013 Pages: 322  Source: Personal Collection Synopsis: A tale of love and marriage, society balls and courtship, class and a touch of scandal, Pamela Mingle's The Pursuit of Mary Bennet is a fresh take on one of the most beloved novels of all time, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice .      Growing up with four extraordinary sisters—beautiful and confident Jane and Elizabeth, and flirtatious and lighthearted Lydia and Kitty—wasn't easy for an awkward bookworm like Mary Bennet. But with nearly all of her sisters married and gone from the household, the unrefined Mary has transformed into an attractive and eligible young woman in her own right.      When another scandal involving Lydia and Wickham threatens the Bennet house, Mary and Kitty are packed off to visit Jane and her husband...

THE SECRET DIARY OF LYDIA BENNET Author: Natasha Farrant Pub. Date: October 25, 2016 Publisher: The Chicken House Pages: 336 Formats: Hardcover, eBook Find it: Amazon , Barnes & Noble , iBooks , Goodreads Source: This book was given to me by Rockstar Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: A fresh, funny, and spirited reimagining of Jane Austen's beloved Pride and Prejudice , The Secret Diary of Lydia Bennet brings the voice of the wildest Bennet sister to life.      Lydia is the youngest of the five Bennet girls. She's stubborn, never listens, and can't seem to keep her mouth shut -- not that she would want to anyway. She wishes her older sisters would pay her attention, or that something would happen in her boring country life.      Luckily, that something is right around the corner, and it's the handsome Wickham, who arrives at Longbourn to sweep her off her feet. Lydia's not going to let him know THAT, of course, ...

Longbourn: A Novel Author: Jo Baker Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Knopf  Release Date: 2013 Pages: 352 Source: Personal Collection Synopsis: Pride and Prejudice was only half the story.       "If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats, Sarah often thought, she’d most likely be a sight more careful with them."       In this irresistibly imagined belowstairs answer to Pride and Prejudice, the servants take center stage. Sarah, the orphaned housemaid, spends her days scrubbing the laundry, polishing the floors, and emptying the chamber pots for the Bennet household. But there is just as much romance, heartbreak, and intrigue downstairs at Longbourn as there is upstairs. When a mysterious new footman arrives, the orderly realm of the servants’ hall threatens to be completely, perhaps irrevocably, upended.       Jo Baker dares to take us beyond the drawing rooms of Jane Austen’s classic—into the often o...