Culture Cabinet

Like most readers, when I first read Pride and Prejudice, I found Lydia Bennet to be insufferable. Worse even than Little Women‘s Amy March, she’s the ultimate spoiled baby of the family, whose indulgence by her mother results in a scandal that nearly ruins the entire family. But watching the Lizzie Bennet Diaries as a teenager made me reconsider: how much of Lydia’s wild behavior is due to the neglect from her father and her older sisters? Why are we overlooking the fact that Lydia is a young teen seduced by an older man?

Ever since, I’ve been fond of reinterpretations of Pride and Prejudice that showed Lydia a bit more grace. So naturally, I was very excited about Melinda Taub’s The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch, especially as a fan of the show based on one of her previous works, Still Star-Crossed. In her new book, Taub completely reimagines the youngest two Bennet sisters. Lydia is a witch, trained by her Aunt Phillips, and her elder sister Kitty is actually a cat that she’s willed everyone into seeing as a girl.

If that made you giggle a bit, then be assured that I did too. But I was very impressed with how well researched Taub’s depiction of early nineteenth-century life clearly was. This variation of Jane Austen’s work did a much better job at capturing the Regency period than most fiction set in that world does, even if Taub is adding magic into the mix. I felt that her depiction of witches, magic, and creatures made a lot of sense within her setting while also being fun and fantastical for the reader.

I liked the ways in which the book challenged and sometimes changed the events of Pride and Prejudice, while also adhering mostly to the story that we know. Lydia’s love for her sisters, despite her frustration with them, shines through and I felt her pain at not being able to connect with them in the way she wanted.

I don’t want to give too much away when it comes to the plot of the novel, because it took twists and turns that I could never have expected, even while working within the framework of Pride and Prejudice. I liked that it switches between Lydia recounting the story of what happened before and what’s happening in the present because it gives us a better sense of her perspective and more intrigue to the story unfolding. I very much admired how well Taub carried off writing in Lydia’s voice in general; I often dislike first-person narration, but Taub made Lydia’s way of writing so delightful to read that I was entranced.

The inclusion of references and characters from Austen’s other works were quite clever as well and didn’t feel too hokey, like they sometimes can. I loved the version of the Regency world that Taub created in her book and wish that I could read several more set in it. Bravo to Taub for creating a more nuanced, complicated, and interesting version of Lydia Bennet than Jane Austen herself could have imagined, while still paying clearly loving homage to Austen’s work and characters. If you’re a fan of Pride and Prejudice, witchy reads, and giving unsung characters their due, you should definitely pick up The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet.

I was given a copy of this book by Melinda Taub, Grand Central Publishing, and Austenprose PR in exchange for an honest review and for participation in the Book Tour. You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble and find it on Goodreads.