AAR Loves… Jane Austen Adaptations
Romance, as a genre, stands on the shoulders of Jane Austen, but some books stand more directly than others. Her work has reached the levels of stories like Cinderella and Robin Hood in terms of being recognizable story archetypes adaptable to new times and places. And, of course, Austen’s novels are in the public domain, which allows for her work to be re-released directly. Authors produce sequels or re-imaginings involving the original characters, and Austen classics are frequently re-issued in new formats (for instance, as audiobooks or graphic novels).
Some of these Austen adaptations, however, are wildly more successful than others! So which Jane Austen adaptations does AAR love? Read on to find out!
For this column, I’ve pulled out adaptations which earned a DIK. If you’re interested in seeing all adaptations, including ones which weren’t so successful, you can see all of our reviews of Jane Austen Adaptations at our tag,
(Also, for Janeites: We have a Jane Austen tag, too. While the “adaptation” tag goes to books which re-use or re-interpret Austen’s plots and characters, the “Jane Austen” tag is for books with original content where Austen is important. Some of these are nonfiction; others are fictional works about fan clubs or scholars, etc. If you’re into Austen but looking for original stories, you might enjoy the stories you find here!)
Historicals
Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price (Pride and Prejudice)
Elizabeth Bennett wants nothing more than to practice law, but her mother worries more over her marital prospects. Lizzie does a lot of work behind the scenes at her father’s firm, but wants to be hired and formally trained. In order to show her father she has what it takes, Lizzie takes on a dubious case: a gentleman, Mr. Charles Bingley, has been accused of murder. Lizzie encounters Bingley, a charming fellow, and his less-than-friendly counsel, Mr. Darcy. While Darcy insists he has the case in hand, Lizzie disagrees with his methods, and conducts her own investigation. In seeking the truth, Lizzie encounters danger, lies, and conspiracies, all while continuing to bump into the frustrating and beguiling Mr. Darcy.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible, or your local independent retailer
Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
A sequel to Pride and Prejudice rather than an adaptation, our story begins one autumn night at Pemberley when Darcy and Elizabeth are preparing to hold an annual ball in his late mother’s honor. Their evening with family and friends, however, is cut short when a carriage careens down the path towards the house carrying Lizzie’s disgraced sister Lydia who shrieks that she is very much afraid that their friend Captain Martin Denny (who appeared in the original) has killed Lydia’s husband, the dastardly Mr. Wickham. However, when Darcy and others go to the scene, they discover that Denny is the one who’s dead and Mr. Wickham stammers that he killed him. Then he backtracks – what he really meant was that it was his quarrel with Mr. Denny that led him to go out into the woods, where he was killed by unknown hands. Readers of Pride and Prejudice know that Wickham truly is a dastardly human being and there is little he won’t do. But is he actually evil enough to kill the man he called his best friend? That is the question facing Mr. Darcy.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible, or your local independent retailer
The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview
This one is also a sequel. On the wedding day of Pride and Prejudice’s Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, Caroline Bingley, who used to set her cap at Darcy with great energy, hides in the library to indulge in a fit of weeping that surprises herself. She is shocked to find that there has been a witness to her unseemly behavior: a gentleman unknown to her, who promises he will not speak of the episode. About a year later, while Caroline and her now widowed sister Louisa are staying with their brother Charles and his wife Jane at Netherfield when a messenger arrives from Pemberley. Elizabeth is feeling very low after a miscarriage, and Darcy urges her sister Jane to come for a visit. Jane and Charles set off that very night. Caroline and Louisa follow, accompanied by the messenger, who happens to be the man Caroline encountered in the library so many months ago: Robert Darcy, Darcy’s cousin from Boston, Massachusetts.
Buy it at: Amazon or your local independent retailer
Contemporaries
M/F:
Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalalludin (Pride and Prejudice)
Khalid – dragged along to a bar where Ayesha is reading her daring poetry at an open mic night – while secretly fascinated and electrified, declares that he’d never date the kind of woman who’d do such a thing. Ayesha promptly decides that if he doesn’t like women like her, he doesn’t have to meet her. Thus when they finally bump into one another, he has no idea the beautiful girl from his neighborhood and the poet who inflames his dreams are the same person, the nontraditional friend of Clara he rejected. And Ayesha sees this bearded man in traditional dress and presumes him to be a fundamentalist with a penchant for following her instead of the kind if socially awkward man he really is.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer
Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev (Pride and Prejudice)
Neurosurgeon Trisha Raje has been consumed by the case of Emma Caine, an artist whose brain tumor is wrapped around her optical nerves; the surgery to remove it will leave Emma blind. Emma refuses to undergo the procedure even at the possible cost of her life. Chef Darcy “DJ” Caine – Emma’s brother – has been trying desperately to talk her into taking the surgery. His latest catering job happens to be cooking for the Raje family’s dinner. When Trisha comes to the kitchen, lifts the lid on DJ’s piece de resistance – his famous caramel sauce – and nearly tips it over, sparks and words fly. Soon DJ and Trisha are bantering and falling in love. But when Julia Wickham, a documentary film-maker, offers to film Emma’s story, she spins DJ a story about the rich, unfeeling Raje family. In their version, she’s a rapist. Who’s telling the truth?
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer
A Higher Education by Rosalie Stanton (Pride and Prejudice)
Elizabeth Bennet is a freshman at Meryton College. Her roommate, Jane, drags her to a party where she meets campus blowhard, Will Darcy. You know the rest.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer
LGBTQ+:
Written in the Stars by Alexandra Bellefleur (Pride and Prejudice)
Elle is a bubbly, free-living extrovert of an astrology addict who works at a metaphysical bookshop and runs a popular astrology-centered Twitter account. Actuary Darcy is an extremely ordered introvert devoted to the soap opera Whisper Cove who Just Wants to be Left Alone after a nasty break-up drove her to live in Seattle. Which is why she lies to Brendon that the date went well. Which means Brendon burbles to Elle about how excited he is that Darcy likes Elle and now they can all double date together with him and his husband. Which means Elle has to confront Darcy about her lie.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible, or your local independent bookstore
The Secret of You and Me by Melissa Lenhardt (Persuasion)
Captain Nora Noakes has been away from Lynchfield, Texas for eighteen years due to her navy service, having fled her repressive hometown and the watchful eyes of her stone-tough father. Now her father is dead, so she’s planning on attending the services and then leaving again for good to resume her life. But the first person she sees when she steps across the threshold of the United Methodist Church for the ceremony is Sophie Russell, the woman whom she loved – and was cruelly parted from – so many years ago.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible, or your local independent bookstore
Most Ardently by Susan Mesler-Evans (Pride and Prejudice)
Honors student Elisa Benitez – spirited, outspoken, poor, and independent – meets Darcy Fitzgerald, a mega-rich Kardashian type, in a lit class at Stevenson Community College. They fight over Lord of the Flies, with Darcy saying it represents our current political climate and Eliza declaring that a dour outlook, which brands Darcy in Elisa’s mind as a snob and Elisa in Darcy’s mind as mildly infuriating. Then Darcy defends Elisa to their teacher, and the wheels in her head begin to turn.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer
Perfect Day by Sally Malcolm (Persuasion)
During one halcyon summer eight years earlier, Joshua Newton and Finn Callaghan met when Finn was employed to work on Charles Newton’s classic car collection at his Hanworth Hall estate on Long Island. Josh and Finn spent as much time together as they possibly could over the couple of months that followed, falling deeply and passionately in love. But their dreams came to an abrupt end when Josh allowed his aunt Ruth to persuade him not only that he should finish his MBA at Harvard, but that for Finn to arrive in LA with a boyfriend in tow would end his dreams of an acting career before it had even begun.
Buy it at: Amazon
Alternate Reality
Heartstone by Elle Katharine White (Pride and Prejudice)
Aliza Bentaine knows full well the danger of monsters – specifically of the gryphons, though we also get treated to some lamias, dire wolves, and banshees – in her world. She’s already lost one sister to their savagery, so when she hears that Lord Merybourne has hired Riders (as in, dragon riders) to hunt down the horde, she is beyond relieved. Unfortunately, while her family might be safer now, the first dragon rider she meets, one Alastair Daired, is infuriating. He’s handsome alright, to quote Disney’s Belle, but rude and conceited, and not for her. She may be attracted to him, but that doesn’t mean she likes him.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer
Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith (Pride and Prejudice)
Grahame-Smith adds hordes of flesh eating zombies (delicately referred to as the Unmentionables) to this classic tale and showcases the Bennet sisters as the scourge of this nasty plague. All the Bennet girls are trained warriors, having studied in China under Shaolin Masters (Lady Catherine de Bourgh is not impressed, everyone knows the socially correct place to study zombie killing is in Japan). When Elizabeth meets Darcy at the assembly at Meryton, she is at first incensed when he says she is not handsome enough to tempt him, and pulls out a katana to give him a real cut direct. But when a troop of zombies invades, Elizabeth mows them down with lethal efficiency, leaving Darcy very impressed.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer
Graphic Novels
Emma by Manga Classics
Fun, fast-paced, and visually engaging, Emma is a great adaptation that made me see the original in a new, clearer way. Austen fans and newbies alike should make a place for it on their keeper shelves.
Buy it at Amazon
Sense and Sensibility by Manga Classics
Level-headed Elinor falls in love with mild-mannered Edward but can’t have him, dramatic and sentimental Marianne falls in love with dashing Willoughby but can’t have him, and both sisters end up happy, although Marianne not in the way she expects. This adaptation brings the setting, the characters, and much of Austen’s original text to vivid life.
Buy it at Amazon
Audio Versions
(Note: these were reviewed by Caz elsewhere)
Sense and Sensibility narrated by Rosalyn Landor
Landor is supremely suited to material of this sort, her beautifully modulated tones, flawless pronunciation and precise intonation being the perfect method of conveyance for Jane Austen’s impeccable language and biting wit. Her understanding of the text shines through. The two heroines are very clearly differentiated, Elinor’s soft, deliberate manner of speech in direct contrast to Marianne’s more fervently emotional style of delivery. Her pacing is spot-on, and each of Jane Austen’s many secondary characters sound more or less exactly as I’ve heard them in my head while reading the book.
Buy it at Amazon
Pride and Prejudice narrated by Kate Reading
Anyone who has listened to some of Kate Reading’s more recent recordings in the historical romance genre will recognise in this interpretation the beginnings of the way she vocalises romantic heroes – and given that I adore her hero voices, the fact that Darcy sounds like one of them is what gives this recording a slight edge for me.
Buy it at Amazon
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I have read a few of these adaptations over the years but they have been so forgettable that I can’t even recall the titles. The best one was Longbourn by Jo Baker and that because it was so different and gave an interesting perspective on life on the other side of the green baize door. I’d rather re-read the original novels. My favourite TV adaptations were both of Persuasion though, of course, the 1995 P&P version by the BBC was amazingly good. That wet shirt ………………
Apparently they are doing an homage to that on Bridgerton this season.
“rolls eyes”
Gnashing my teeth….. I won’t be watching. No more Bridgerton for me.
One book you didn’t mention is Curtis Sittenfeld’s P&P update, “Eligible”: Liz is a magazine writer in her late thirties who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City. When their father has a health scare, they return to their childhood home in Cincinnati to help—and discover that the sprawling Tudor they grew up in is crumbling and the family is in disarray. Youngest sisters Kitty and Lydia are too busy with their CrossFit workouts and Paleo diets to get jobs. Mary, the middle sister, is earning her third online master’s degree and barely leaves her room, except for those mysterious Tuesday-night outings she won’t discuss. And Mrs. Bennet has one thing on her mind: how to marry off her daughters, especially as Jane’s fortieth birthday fast approaches. Enter Chip Bingley, a handsome new-in-town doctor who recently appeared on the juggernaut reality TV dating show Eligible. At a Fourth of July barbecue, Chip takes an immediate interest in Jane, but Chip’s friend neurosurgeon Fitzwilliam Darcy reveals himself to Liz to be much less charming. . . .
The book was clever and well-written, but in the end it made me sad, unlike the original P&P. I found some of the characters less likable than the originals and didn’t care for how certain issues within the story are resolved.
A bit off topic but . . . Dabney has made a few comments recently about “recoding” related to the site. Let me be clear upfront that I REALLY do appreciate everything you guys are doing to keep the site up and running, and to improve it. I’m just curious about what is in the works. Is it possible to summarize for us what the goals are? And maybe a prioritized list of things to be done?
For example, I like the revised search function but I’m really hoping tags will be included as a search criteria at some point; and that blog posts will either be added or have its own search at some point. The clickable list of “AAR Loves” blog posts above is fabulous but it won’t be long before this post is buried and hard to find.
Just curious about what y’all are thinking.
You can search by tags now–it’s the last option on the left hand side of the page.
In the reboot, you will be able to search blogs.
I am still in the early days of the reboot but I will say there’s little I plan to get rid of. It’s really about a much less complex backend interface and an easier to navigate user experience.
Yay for searching tags and blogs! Not sure how I missed the tags on the beta page . . .
I love Austen remakes in movies, both ones that hew exactly to the original text and ones that are inspired. But in books, not so much.
I got 3 chapters in to Pride and Premeditation and that was enough. Darcy and Elizabeth belong to Jane Austen and no other author. Adaptations have never appealed to me but it was in my library and I gave it a chance.
I watched Death comes to Pemberley years ago and all I remember is that it was boring and I disliked the actors.
I will always picture Colin Firth as Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth.
The only Austen-ish books I’ve read are Bridget Jones’’ Diary (hilarious; funnier than the movie), Death Comes to Pemberley (half listened to the audiobook and found it both a bit tedious and a bit bonkers, from what I remember) and Slightly Dangerous (a big disappointment that Wulfric didn’t get a more original plot after all that buildup through everyone else’s books). The Austen connection is more likely to be a turnoff than a selling point for me. I was lucky enough to read P&P, Emma and Persuasion as a teenager with no foreknowledge of any of the plots. I can do without the pale imitations.
I agree with you 100% on Death Comes to Pemberley and Slightly Dangerous. I had hoped for better from P.D. James and Mary Balogh but came away disappointed.
Your comment made me smile. I think I’m glad I didn’t go into reading Slightly Dangerous with the expectation that it was a PP variation. It never occurred to me to make the comparison during or after reading it – although as Caz points out elsewhere in this thread, the argument can be made that any enemies-to-friends plot can be considered a PP variation.
Rant first: I really don’t get the plethora of Jane Austen adaptations or sequels. Obviously, there is a market for them, but why? They are not original, by definition. They never remotely approach the sublime wit, wisdom, and beauty of the originals. So many come across as fanfic and cheap imitations by authors looking for an easy way to make a few bucks. Sometimes the authors can’t even be troubled to create new names for the characters, or they will throw in some of Austen’s most famous phrases to add to their Austenian flavor. Rant over, calmer now: I have more tolerance for stories which are very loosely inspired by Austen. As mentioned by others, Sally Malcolm’s Perfect Day is a good example. A lovely story, I never realized Persuasion inspired it, and it stands on its own beautifully.
Your rant is pretty much exactly what goes through my head every time I see a new JA sequel or adaptaion. Pretty much every antagonists-to-lovers romance is based on P&P anyway, and much as I like a bit of steam, the idea of Emma and Knightley or Darcy and Elizabeth of Anne and Wentworth going at it like bunnies just squicks me out!!
Yes! I agree that we need to leave the characters where Jane left them— no on page canoodling, other than a chaste kiss. When reading these adaptions or sequels (I confess I have read a few, hoping for more time with my favorite characters in their world,) the characters often say or do things which are, well, out of character. I am sure the authors are trying to channel Jane, but they just can’t.
There are a lot of indie and small press Austen adaptations out there — many of them called “variations.” Some of them look like fun. There’s even one where Lizzie and Mr. Darcy meet on a ship bound for the New World instead of Netherfield. It sounds odd, but it has gotten good reviews.
There are some twisty (and outright bizarre) variations. What if Lizzie is forced to become a governess after her father dies? (Mr. Bennett is often injured or even killed in these stories. :( ) What if Mr. Bennett dies, so Mrs. Bennett, Lizzie, and her sisters are forced to move to London to live in reduced circumstances? What if Lizzie married Mr. Collins (!), and Mr. Darcy later married her when she was a widow? What if Mr. Darcy were a vampire? What if Lizzie is injured in a carriage accident, so her spirit is temporarily transported to Darcy’s London house? (I’m not making those last two up!)
There is a Goodreads list full of P&P variations.
But yes, some of them sound more like fanfic than independent novels. (I might do better by visiting Archive of Our Own.) Also, many of these variations seem to be much longer than the original story. So they might lose something there. :(
Yes, but all those what-if?s could be perfectly well served using original characters. I don’t get why authors feel the need to appropriate the originals and often do a piss-poor job of it.
Yup. Why not just write a governess romance? Why not just write a shipboard romance? But some authors have been doing the variations for a while, so they must have fans who prefer the “Austenish” stuff.
Heartstone by White, which you mention, is the first book of a fantasy trilogy (with Dragonshadow and Flamebringer). The P&P parallels are very clear in Heartstone, but I did not notice more parallels in the other two books. The whole trilogy is good, but serious, fantasy—there isn’t much humor.
I loved Heartstone but didn’t go on with the sequels. They are actually sitting on my bookshelf. I need to get around to these one day.
You’ve missed my favorite adaptation – Darcy’s Story.. I don’t remember the author’s name but it’s based a retelling of P&P from Darcy’s POV. I was disappointed when in the original there were few plotlines that told us who he really was. I think having more would’ve made the HEA a little easier to believe.
The first in Pam Aidan’s “Darcy Fitzwilliam” trilogy (really? they needed to break it into 3 books?) was on sale at Amazon just the other day: An Assembly Such As This. I see today they are all at $12.99 or $13.99 today (although they all appear to be in KU for free at the moment).
Aidan’s “Darcy’s POV PP” is very true to the original novel. I believe every scene and scrap of dialogue in which Darcy is present in the original remains as Austen wrote it. Aidan fills in the rest of the plot points as Darcy would have become aware of them, many times via the one major new character she created in Fletcher, Darcy’s valet.
This is the one book adaptation I like so much I own it. I love to recommend it to fans of the original novel. The rest of them: vampires? zombies? on-page sexy times? I’ve read several and you can have them. But I love to reread PP by alternating Austen and Aidan.
I don’t have anything against contemporary adaptations of Austen’s books, but I rarely seek them out because it’s the beauty of the language and Austen’s writing that captivated me. I first read Austen when I was 41 and expecting my last child. I pulled P&P off the shelf while visiting my in-laws house and was immediately sucked into the story. That started my love affair with Austen’s books. I read and reread them all, read them aloud to my kids, and got them all on audio. I do enjoy some of the movies and mini-series that have been made, and like to watch them every few years and compare how the different movie/TV adaptations of Emma, for example, differ in the parts of the story they emphasis, etc.
I have Perfect Day on my TBR list. And I would dearly love to listen to Kate Reading read P&P, and may invest in that one.
Interesting that they are overwhelmingly adaptations Pride and Prejudice. Do you suppose it’s the one people are most likely to have read? Or know from movies?
I’m afraid I’ve never read any of them, but I did love Clueless, the 1995 movie adaptation of Emma.
Clueless is so well done. It follows Austen but doesn’t contort itself to fit the original (ex making Christian gay instead of trying to force the Frank Churchill secret love plot, which just doesn’t translate to high school).
I LOVE Jane Austen – Emma is one of my all time favourite books and I return to it often. But I don’t actively seek out adaptations and the plethora of P&P sequels don’t appeal to me at all. TBH, most of them sound like bad fanfic that just use the characters’ names while the characters themselves bear no relation whatsoever to Austen’s creations.
BUT. If I like the sound of a book on its own merits – like Perfect Day – and, as in that case, know the author’s writing and feel it’d be a good book regardless of inspiration – then I’ll pick it up, but an Austenian association would probably not be my main motivation for doing so. If anything, I’m more likely to be cautious – especially as the last Austen-inspired book I read and reviewed here was pretty awful!
I avoid all written Austen adaptations as they just annoy me. The only ones that I’ve enjoyed are books that I’ve started without realising they are based on Austen e.g. Sally Malcolm’s Perfect Day.
I have enjoyed some film and stage versions, though, particularly those with some humour. I saw Pride and Prejudice (sort of) in the West End before Christmas and thought it was hilarious.