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Jane Austen’s gauche Mary Bennet, middle sister of five, has already had a lot of attention from novelists over the years. To my mind, it’s a brave author who writes a new storyline for any character out of Pride & Prejudice, even one of the less famous ones. But in The Other Bennet Sister (2020), Janice Hadlow does it superbly, with tenderly affecting insights.
Readers will not just end up sympathising with (and understanding) Mary’s social ineptness and unerring ability to say the wrong thing; they will almost certainly care about Mr Collins too. Charlotte Lucas is already a sympathetic figure but here we gain further understanding of her character also. Her confiding in Mary, following Mr Bingley’s making the ‘polite choice’ of dancing with her first at a ball (before moving swiftly on to Jane), is poignant:
‘I know very well what I must do and say next,’ continued Charlotte. I must smile and nod and look unconcerned at my dismissal, while laughing and teasing Jane about her new conquest. And that is what I will do. I’m used to it. But I tell you what it is, Mary – I’m not sure if I can do it for much longer …’
The opening is my least favourite part of the novel; I would have preferred more dialogue to show the Bennet family’s situation and less authorial telling (skilful as it is). But that’s a small cavil, and I only say it because it would be a huge shame if a reader gave up on account of it.
The book is divided into five sections. The first draws a parallel between Charlotte and Mary’s situations; both girls are plain and only too aware of what this means for their marital prospects. Mary’s story, however, is the poignant focus. Her mother’s lack of interest in her because she is not a beauty – Mrs Bennet is especially exasperated when Mary decides to wear spectacles – and her father’s admiration for Lizzy alone are incredibly hurtful to this unformed girl. The steps Mary takes for self-improvement, because she longs for parental regard, culminate in the famously shaming scene where her father publicly closes down her piano performance at a ball. ‘You have delighted us long enough,’ he says in a voice loud enough for others to hear. As an aside, my family have laughingly used this expression for years to shut each other up – but here you feel its devastating effect. Mary is so confused and humiliated by her father’s words, she thinks she might faint.
Part I ends with Charlotte accepting the hand of Mr Collins, leaving Mary – who had thought she might marry him herself in order to help her family – agonisingly aware she is of such little worth that even this deeply unimpressive man ignores and dismisses her.
Part II begins two years later. All four of Mary’s sisters are now married and, from here to the end, is the story of Mary’s search for her place in the world. At times it is an almost desperate one. Among other things, she must learn how to deal with Miss Bingley’s vengeful disappointment at not securing Mr Darcy, which is now redirected at this new soft target. The woman is adept at reopening Mary’s wounds. Arriving at the end of one of her piano performances, she sneers, ‘…perhaps you fear you have delighted us enough already?’ The event makes Mary decide she must leave her sister’s house at once; otherwise, she will become a cowed victim. What she doesn’t realise is that running away will never be enough to escape Miss Bingley. She must find a different way, which will require courage.
But our heroine has delightful, as well as agonising, encounters, such as when Mr Collins attempts to teach her Greek (she is astounded at his encouragement) and, even more, when he opens up about his past and speaks of an incident that makes him wince: ‘Do you remember your father asking me once at dinner if I made up in advance the compliments I then thought were so pleasing to ladies? I was such a fool that I told him the truth. Of course I did. How else would they occur to a man such as myself?’ This is a Mr Collins I’d never imagined – but I believe in him. And am bowled over. We all have a public face. Unfortunately, Mr Collins has, up till now, shown the wrong one.
The Independent says of this book that it ‘will delight Pride & Prejudice fans’. I agree – because the author truly knows the original. But even if you are not a fan, this tender yet page-turning reimagining of Mary’s life, and of the lives of other non-aspirational characters, is enthralling in its own right.