Janice Hadlow

Anyone who is feeling overwhelmed by how sad and gloomy this is at the beginning, I encourage you to stick with it. The first half is pretty rough going for Mary, although there are bright spots, like dear Mrs. Hill, Mary getting her spectacles, and—believe it or not—Mr. Collins. I wasn’t thrilled with how heartless Mrs. Bennett, Lydia, and Charlotte Lucas became in the hands of this author, but I have to admit, if their established characters were taken to their darker extremes, the characterization here isn’t really off base. It was especially hard to see Mrs. Bennett taken from being rather silly but with loving motives in P&P to being portrayed as such an unloving mother to Mary.

As hard as it is to live with Mary through the sadness and loneliness, the first half does establish her character and set the stage for its transformation as the book progresses. I really liked how Mary’s own lonely experience tempered her treatment of Mr. Collins and later, Mr. Hurst. It was quite wonderful to see those characters in a different light.

Oh, the beloved Gardiners! How fitting that they would be the ones to finally wrap Mary in love and give her an environment where she could bloom and start liking herself. Once I got to Gracechurch Street, I really adored the book. Mr. Hayward is so delightful, and the perfect suitor for Mary. Could I have done without the love triangle, or maybe love square? Probably, but I liked that Mr. Ryder wasn’t portrayed as some horrible villain. He just wasn’t right for Mary, and she was smart enough to see that. It was a nice touch that Mary was the one who got to take the tour originally meant for Elizabeth in P&P. I appreciated the follow-up to the events at Mr. Bingley’s ball as well, and I don’t think it did anything to hurt Elizabeth’s character. It just made her human.

I highly recommend this. I’m usually all for dumping a book that isn’t bringing you joy, and I think several reviewers did that with this one. But oh, reader—you will be so rewarded if you stay with it until the end. There’s light at about the 47/48% mark, I promise you, and it is so satisfying to see Mary’s transformation.… (més)