A Feminist Perspective on Pride and Prejudice: The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet by Colleen McCullough

This is the second Pride and Prejudice-related fiction I’ve read recently (see my review of Death Comes to Pemberley). Both books came to me from the library, and I was excited to read them. Unfortunately, both have also turned out to be damp squibs.

The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet started promising, with Mary newly freed from the burden of caring for her mother and now looking forward to her freedom.

She sets her plans in motion. Inspired by a columnist in a newspaper, Mary decides to find out about the lives of the poor and write a book on them. She embarks on her travels in this spirit and soon lands into many messes.

And in the meanwhile, what’s happening with the other Bennet girls? Lydia is a drunk. Jane is a meek wife with 12 children and more miscarriages and tolerates Bingley’s infidelity. Lizzie and Darcy, though, are the worst off. They have drifted apart, and Darcy is haughtier than ever, aspiring to be Prime Minister of England.

The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet: Review

Let me start with the good things about this book; there are plenty of good things to like.

For one, I loved that McCullough chose to shine the spotlight on the less privileged people of that time. She doesn’t gloss over some of the existing injustices of the time – such as slavery, worker rights, women’s rights, etc.

And this isn’t something that is an adjunct to the main story. All these issues are weaved right into the Bennet sisters’ lives. Jane is a little upset that her husband keeps slaves on his plantation in Jamaica. Darcy’s haughtiness and privilege make him blind to how his wealth has been earned. We see how Mary financially depends on Darcy and hence has restricted freedom.

What I didn’t like about the book was the half-baked plot and the disastrous portrayal of Darcy. Of course, we always knew he tends to be pompous, but in Pride and Prejudice, he also seemed like a nice man underneath the haughty veneer. Not so in The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet. He’s so obnoxious and downright cruel at times that when Lizzie and Darcy finally resolved their differences, I wasn’t happy for them. In this book, he keeps a huge secret from her, and I disliked that despite many options to come clean, Darcy never does so.

Mary’s adventure was also implausible to me. Her thoughts of being an independent, maiden author were promising, but the scrapes she got into were unbelievable and annoying.

Spoilers below.

Added to the plot is a mysterious handyman of Darcy’s who does a lot of dirty work (up to and including murder) to protect Darcy’s political reputation.

Yes, Darcy employs a man who is almost like a serial killer who kills people who could sully Darcy’s political campaign. True, he doesn’t know that his henchman is actually killing people, but that part of the story was completely unconvincing. Darcy is completely unconvincing. Full stop.

End of spoilers.

So, overall, this was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I liked the writing, which was refreshingly modern without being too much so. I liked the emphasis on developing a non-elitist, realistic take on that time period.

However, some parts of the story were unrealistic and out there, and I disliked some of the character development in the book. Also, the super-pat ending isn’t in tune with how the rest of the book is written.

In short, I think McCullough started off with all the right intentions. But somewhere along the way, something went very bizarrely wrong. Once the book started to populate with Godmen spouting religious mumbo-jumbo and assassins, it stopped working for me.

What about you? Have you read this book? Did you like it? Do you recommend any sane book within the Pride and Prejudice-derived literature? Do let me know in the comments.

As such, unless I receive some strong recommendations, I will run far away from anything related to P&P.