Most ArdentlyA Pride and Prejudice Remix
Review posted March 25, 2025.
Macmillan Young Listeners, 2024. 7 hours, 30 minutes.
Review written March 1, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
2025 Stonewall Honor Book, Young Adult Literature
I have long loved Pride and Prejudice variants and everything related to Jane Austen. I even have a webpage devoted to reviews of such books - my Austenalia page.
I found this version of Pride and Prejudice completely delightful. The big switch? The second child in the Bennet family is actually a transgender boy named Oliver.
The scenes in the novel play out as Oliver is beginning to live as himself and stop pretending to be a girl named Elizabeth. His father is understanding and affirming, but he shudders at the thought of letting his mother know. And Oliver encounters Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy both when dressed as himself and when pretending to be a woman. It turns out that Mr. Darcy fancies men, but when appearing as Elizabeth, Oliver can't let on that he knows that.
There were a couple of odd changes - Longbourne and Netherfield were much closer to London, for starters, as was, apparently, Pemberley and Hunsford. That did help the story speed up - this version got in most of the major scenes, but it was much shorter than the original novel. We also had Oliver not being much taken with Wickham right from the start - there was much less misunderstanding and later reversal than in the original, but it was kind of fun to watch Wickham try to flirt with Oliver, and Oliver having none of it.
Now, I was a little skeptical of how well most who learned about Oliver handled the news and accepted him as himself in that day and age. The historical note at the end did help me believe it could have happened - and regardless, it did my heart good to read about a young transgender man getting love and support from his family and friends.
All in all, it's a delightful addition to Austenalia - with a new twist I haven't seen before. Let me ardently recommend this book.