After a little discussion in our reading group a few weeks ago I started thinking about just how many Pride and Prejudice spin offs there are. Some are very well known, others a little more obscure so I thought I’d throw it out to the group for the vote and six books emerged.
Now we’re not suggesting these are in any way a replacement for Austen’s masterpiece, but wonderfully complementary pieces for fans of the book. We hope you enjoy the list and it offers some inspiration to you!
Me and Mr. Darcy – Alexandra Potter
I have to confess this is the only one from the list I read, and I loved it! I’m not a huge fan of P&P in general, but this is a light and airy tribute to the original tale.
Austenland – Shannon Hale
When young Jane from New York heads off to an English resort catering for Austen-obsessed women she dreams of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman, but is she over the moon with her experience, or is she cured of her Austen-mania good?
Darcy’s Story – Janet Aylmer
It’s a well known fact that Austen never wrote dialogue between two men, having come from a period when she simply wouldn’t have known what men talked about in their own company. Here Janey Aylmer retells Pride and Prejudice from Darcy’s point of view in an interesting take on the original novel.
Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
Probably the most famous spin off of them all, a book, a motion picture and an entire franchise that’s maybe as popular as P&P itself! It didn’t come very high up on our list but we suspect that that’s because it’s so popular it’s taken on an entire life of its own.
Mr Darcy’s Daughters – Elizabeth Aston
In this most wonderful fan fiction Acton focuses on the Marriage prospects of the five daughters of Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy where romance is high up on the menu, continuing the adventures into a new generation.
The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen – Syrie James
In this most wonderful novel James imagines what you might find if you discovered the lost memoirs of Jane Austen in an old attic chest. Rather than remaking P&P it uses Austen’s own life experience and how that may have come through in her writing.
The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen US
The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen UK
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – Seth Grahame-Smith
Our final selection is a mash-up of epic proportions as Seth Grahame-Smith combines the classic 1813 novel with a more modern zombie theme in this parody novel!
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies US
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies UK
We all love a bit of fan-fiction but these published novels take that to a whole new level! If you’re a fan of the original, we’d love to hear what you think of the spin offs!
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Can’t believe you left out Longbourn by John Baker that details the lives of the servants in the Bennetts household. A great perspective on pride and prejudice.