The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet by Colleen McCullough
A book review
The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet continues the story of Fitzwilliam Darcy, his wife Elizabeth and her eccentric family twenty years after the close of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. At the center is Elizabeth's bookish sister Mary, now long recovered from her teenaged crush on the Reverend Mr. Collins.
Sent away after the Darcy marriage to care for her embarrassing mother, Mary is suddenly freed from two decades of genteel bondage when old Mrs. Bennet dies. Mary decides neither to accept the Darcys' invitation to move in with them nor to wed one of her ardent and eligible suitors, thereby appalling her relations. Even more appalling to them is her plan to travel through England investigating the woes of the poor and downtrodden.
Though McCullough borrows the characters of Pride and Prejudice, to her credit, she does not attempt to duplicate Austen's literary style in all respects. Mary's project lends the novel a Dickensian turn, in which the risk of social death pales compared with with the risk of literal death into which the plucky and intelligent but perilously sheltered Mary plunges herself.
Other worries beset the Darcys, as well. Their marriage has proved worse than a disappointment to both Fitz and Lizzie. Then Lizzie's sister Lydia returns, more disreputable than ever. Fitz's mysterious friend Ned Skinner reveals sinister depths. And the engaging Darcy children are at the brink of leaving the nest.
If Pride and Prejudice is fresh in their minds, readers may find it easier to keep track of the many characters, but McCullough juggles her plots and subplots well and entertainingly. Much of The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet has the pacing and tension of a thriller, but an extended denouement in proper Austen style ties up all the subplots, providing happy, socially acceptable endings for the surviving characters. (2008, 336 pages)