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The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet By Colleen McCulloughAccording to a recent poll of 15,000 Dymocks booklover members, Pride and Prejudice is considered one of the best books ever written and yet one that I am shamefaced to admit has never quite made it to the top of my reading pile.Published 1 September, 2008 
According to a recent poll of 15,000 Dymocks booklover members, Pride and Prejudice is considered one of the best books ever written and yet one that I am shamefaced to admit has never quite made it to the top of my reading pile. I start the review off with this embarrassing secret because it’s a direct result of McCullough’s fine ‘sequel’ that it’s now moved into prime position. I also use it to illustrate the fact that it’s entirely possible to enjoy this historical epic without having formally met the Bennet/Darcy clan. The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet picks up the story of the Bennet sisters 20 years after Jane Austen left off. However, as the title suggests, the story’s focus is now on the newly liberated and long-neglected middle child, Mary. After 17 years of ‘doing the right thing’ looking after her twittering mother, Mary is a changed woman and has decided she would like to make a difference in the world. The comfortable, yet conveniently remote home that Mr Darcy selected to house his troublesome mother-in-law, came with a well-appointed library that no-one would have expected Mary to bother reading...but read it she did. Thus armed with a righteous sense of the social injustice plaguing newly industrialised England Mary sets off to research the plight of the poor and the working-class for a book she intends to write. As the promotional blurb states, the resultant story is ‘both a page-turning adventure and a cracking romance’ and, as you would expect of an author of McCullough’s talent, utilises many of the epic genre’s strengths in a sophisticated and very well told manner. I particularly enjoyed the realistic portrayals of Elizabeth and Darcy’s marriage and the descriptions of back roads of 19th-century England. The romantic subplot is not overbearing and the finer descriptions in keeping with the tonal sensibilities of the Georgian popular novel. Given the marketing push HarperCollins has committed to, I have no doubt this will be a successful book and it is nice to be able to say that, for once, it will deserve the hype. If asked for a one-line summary I suggest...‘The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet combines Austen’s loved characters with a Dickensian sensibility, added to the mix is some feminist spice resulting in a hearty yet delicious novel perfect for the Christmas market.’ Rachel Wilson is an academic and occasionally works at the Sun Bookshop, Yarraville This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker More from Fiction Book Reviews
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4 comment(s) on this page. Add your own comment below.
Hi
I'm amazed I apear to be the first to comment on this book.
I'd always wondered what happened to Mary B. When I saw an advertisement on the back of a bus last week, ran across the road (dodging cars etc) to the nearest bookshop to buy a copy. I spent my weekend ignoring everyone in order to finish it.
I don't want to spoil anything for you. I thought I was a Jane Austen purist and, at first, was quite miffed about what had transpired during the almost 20 years since the end of P&P. However, the naughty way in which Colleen McCullough tackled this sequel really tickled me. Be prepared for some upsetting situations, some character assassination, a little amusingly bad language and a bit of a romp.
Don't read it if you are not prepared for some of your favourite characters to be besmirched a bit.
Sorry to be vague, but I don't want to wreck it for you.
Cheers
Vicki
Great comment Vicki! I also rushed out to buy this copy and I've been dying to talk to others about it. My very first initial reaction (I'm up to page 33!!) has been to freak out ever so slightly. I can't get past calling Mr Darcy 'Fitz' even though, of course, that was his name and how his family would address him
Can't help but wonder what dear Miss Austen would have made of this!?
As an avowed Austen fan I wasn't going to read this book- but for my sins, a friend who had acquired a copy, pressed it upon me - urging me to " give it a go"- in the best Aussie tradition. So, I have ploughed through it and my advice to the author is - " please stick to your Thorn birds and Roman ruins- leave Jane Austen alone" To potenial readers- "read it if you must- but not as an "austen- sequel" - for this piece of pastiche is certainly nothing like a sequel to Pride and Prejudice. All the characters are distorted by the author to suit her own purposes and are nothing like the people Jane Austen created. If Ms McCullough wanted to write a "naughty Georgian tale" she could have done so without dragging Jane Austen's characters into it.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Pride and Prejudice is one of the most popular novels written in the English language. What is equally acknowledged is that it's popularity is based primarily of the enchanting central characters. It was therefore a very bold move to portray Mr Darcy as the villain of the sequel and Elizabeth as his much trodden upon wife. I managed to survive the book by separating the characters of "Fitz" and Elizabeth from those that I know through Pride and Prejudice. Luckily this was easy to do as they bore very little resemblance to them. Perhaps this novel is Colleen McCullough the antidote to the 21st Century "cult of Mr Darcy". However, I can't imagine that the majority of her readers (who one would assume liked the characters in the original novel) will thank her for it.
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