If someone told you you had to write a sequel to an Austen or Bronte novel, telling the story of one of the minor characters and his or her romance……who would you choose?
Would you write about Mary Bennet, who tried her best to be scholarly and good, but could never win the approval of her father, the love of her mother, or the interest of her sisters?
Would you write about Kitty Bennet, who had the misfortune to always be overshadowed by a younger sister? Once Lydia runs off, how does Kitty change?
Or how about Colonel Fitzwilliam? Or kill off Mr Collins, and give Charlotte a real romance!
Would anyone here like to reform Elizabeth Elliott, and give her a proper romance? I suspect that she’d be a lost less fun to reform than someone who was witty and wicked. 🙂
Would you write about Margaret Dashwood, who may have seen and thought more than Austen gave her credit for? When she grows up, does she make the utterly splendid marriage that neither of her sisters managed?
Or how about Tom Bertram? Joan Aiken already wrote a book in which the reformed Tom Bertram had a romance with Fanny’s little sister…but perhaps someone totally new would fit the bill.
And what about those devilishly attractive Crawfords? They’re intelligent, and surely they can be reformed too!
Could Isabella Thorpe be reformed? I do think she’s great fun.
And then of course there are all the Bronte characters….and so many more, from different novels.
So which would you write, if you had to write one?
Cara
Cara King, www.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER — Signet Regency, coming November 1!
Cara:
I’d already been thinking about the Brainy Bennett–Mary, right? It’d be great to hook her up with a not-so-bright rake who’s actually secretly very, very bright. And I’d like to shake up those St. John sisters from Jane Eyre. Wuthering Heights folks are beyond repair, I think.
I agree, Megan — Mary Bennet always interested me. Her faults are the sort of faults that are often cured by a little experience and a little growing up, so there would be a lot to write about, I think.
In the pictures I posted here, I love the one of Mary and Kitty side by side, with Mary glowering at the camera. Of course, in the world of Mary and Kitty there would be no cameras, but still, I think this photo is so true! If you look at people’s family pictures, you can often find very similar photos — the photographer was obviously interested in Kitty, because the photo was taken when Kitty was smiling — and the photographer obviously never even noticed that Mary was frowning. Which is probably why Mary is frowning!
Mary has obviously spent a lot of time curling her hair, trying to look pretty — and yet no matter how hard she tries, no one likes her, or finds her the least bit interesting. And she has the sort of mind-set where she doesn’t realize that people would like her more if she lightened up and stopped trying so hard…
So what sort of man would I put her with? For me, not a rake, I don’t think. But someone hugely important, perhaps, to emphasize the Cinderella story??? He has to be someone who can see the real Mary. So perhaps someone a bit cynical…he can see through the shallowness of the other girls…
It’s a stereotypical idea, I admit, but I think I’d give Mary an extremely handsome ex-cavalry officer who’s very popular, but is much darker than he used to be. He’s sick of Lydia-like girls who want to party all the time, and he probably has a relapse and he prefers Mary as a nurse because she’s quiet and unassuming…
And I agree about the Rivers sisters in Jane Eyre! They’re so very good…they really need some nice rakes. 🙂
Cara
I think this sequel has been done by someone, but I was interested in the story of Jane Fairfax in EMMA–poor girl, so beautiful and gifted, married to a bozo like Frank Churchill. 🙂 But really there are so many secondary characters who were so well-drawn that they sort of took on a life of their own, and I can’t help but be sorry I don’t know what happened to them!
I know Joan Aiken did a Jane Fairfax book — called JANE FAIRFAX, actually. But she totally changed the story, so it really didn’t work for me. Jane’s romance is really a much more classic romance than Emma’s — Jane is the poor, hard-working girl who falls in love with a charmer….the charmer loves her, but is he dependable? Will he break her heart? And then there’s that scandalous secret engagement …and then he goes and flirts with Emma, the golden girl who always had everything that Jane didn’t… One could easily make her romance with Churchill into a very romantic story!
Of course, we tend to see Frank Churchill as not all that wonderful…but imagine him as written by Charlotte Bronte! Much more manly… 🙂 That’s the story that wants to be told, I think. 🙂
Cara
Funny, but I’ve got notes for a Mary Bennett-like heroine story on my drive. I always thought it would be interesting to see how she’d react to have someone who was interest in her for herself, not as Jane or Lizzie’s younger sister or Kitty and Lydia’s older sibling.
I think the appeal may be that she’s such a cypher — I’m curious to see how she’d blossom
Hmm…
I think Mr. Collins would have to live for a while just so Charlotte is properly tortured for her marital choice.
Re Mary, I’m afraid she reminds me a little of how I used to be in my early teens, though hopefully I was never quite so obnoxious! I would have to rewrite her so that she was truly talented in music, etc… as written it appeared she was just showing off.
Now Jane Fairfax is definitely an interesting character to spin off, though whether she should end up with Frank Churchill remains doubtful in my mind.
Elena 🙂
My problem with Aiken’s JANE FAIRFAX is that Mr. Knightley is untouchable — everybody in that book gets their comeuppance, and rather nicely, except the man who (as a character in my current wip describes him), spent most of his adult life ogling the little girl next door.
He will emerge a sadder but wiser man from *MY* Jane Fairfax novella, if ever I write it.
It has occurred to me that Mary Bennet was also very left out — Jane and Lizzie are best friends, as are Kitty and Lydia, but poor Mary has no one! I, unlike Elena, don’t think one would need to make Mary truly talented to make her interesting…
But if one wanted to pursue the music thing, perhaps she just finds great satisfaction in working out the intricate keyboard bits in baroque and classical music, and her audiences are much more interested in the popular songs, and more romantic melodies. So they think her playing is dry and boring and show-offy, whereas she thinks the pieces she plays are very interesting.
I guess I never really warmed to the Crawfords, but I’d love to write Isabella Thorpe’s story. She’s very intelligent and lively — she’s just been raised wrong. But then she meets a man she falls truly in love with, and learns how shallow she’s been… 🙂
Cara
Aw, Pam…poor Knightly! He didn’t love Emma until she was grown up. Honest! 🙂
I’d do Jane Fairfax I believe, and find her someone much more stable and honorable that Frank Churchill.
Oddly enough, I fell asleep the other night wondering how I could do a sequel about Lydia. Sadly, no matter what scene I ran through my head, I couldn’t change her character from selfish and shallow to someone who had learned a difficult lesson and was sympathetic as a herone. She simply was eternally blaming others for her misfortunes and impulsively running after pleasure. She refused to sit and mend for the soldiers to pay for her keep after Wickham left, and saw no reason why she should! But I tried!
Laurie
LOL, Laurie! Of all the heroines that won’t do what the author tells them to, I can most believe it of Lydia. She never did what anyone told her to, so why would she listen to her author either? 🙂
Cara
I’d like to do Miss Bates from “Emma.” She obviously has the hots for Mr. Knightley (groan) altho she’s way out of his preferred age range. There has to be someone out there who would take her seriously enough to stop her talking about nothing all the time.
I haven’t read Joan Aiken’s sequels in years but I remember being very impressed with them.
I think a book about the Crawfords could be interesting. There’s a bit of a hint in Mansfield Park that Henry Crawford might really have been able to reform if Fanny had returned his love; so picture an embittered Henry Crawford, not accepted in society, being made the object of a young and virtuous woman who sets out to reform him properly.
Hmm. Actually that sounds like the plot of several Regencies I’ve read. Never mind!
Todd-who-is-willing-to-reform