
In Lydia Bennet's Story we are taken back to Jane Austen's most beloved novel, Pride and Prejudice, to a Regency world seen through Lydia's eyes where pleasure and marriage are the only pursuits. Lydia's dream of following the regiment to the fashionable resort of Brighton comes true, she is soon the darling of all the officers and tempted not only by a handsome royal dragoon, but drawn to the irresistible charms of one already well known to her.
But the road to matrimony is fraught with difficulties and even when she is convinced that she has met the man of her dreams, she quickly discovers that her hero is not the man she believes him to be. Before long his reputation has her running back to Hertfordshire to be reunited with Bennets, Bingleys and Darcys, meeting once again for a grand ball at Netherfield Park. Will she resolve her problems to find happiness or will the shocking truth about her husband cause the greatest scandal of all?
As I read attempted Pride and Prejudice sequels, I'm always hopeful that the latest one will be a delight. They rarely are, and this one is no exception. Lydia was never someone I really cared about as I read Pride and Prejudice. She's more the annoying gnat that keeps buzzing around your head: the one you keep slapping away. This book is simply a light peek into the life of Lydia Bennet, one of the silliest girls in all of England.
The story is told in a third-person narrative, with Lydia's first-person journal entries interspersed. The technique works here. Jane Odiwe has defined Lydia in such a way that we find out why she acts the way she does and we see some of her thought processes. Most of it is plausible. Her main issue is that she craves positive attention from her father, the man who openly favors Elizabeth, but all she ever receives is negative.
The story follows her adventure to Brighton and subsequent marriage to George Wickham. Their marriage is chronicled as is Lydia's embarrassment at her husbands infidelity, and her pleas to Elizabeth and Jane for help. Things wrap up a bit too neatly and Lydia never really suffers for her misbehavior or inappropriate antics.
A promising story that fell flat. I just wanted it to be finished.
Thanks to my local library for having a copy I could borrow and not buy. If you really want your own, you can purchase a copy here
Read 1/09
* *
2/5 Stars