Recent Reinterpretations of Pride and Prejudice

This article relates to Unmarriageable

Unmarriageable might be the first version of Pride and Prejudice set in Pakistan, but it's hardly the only creative retelling of this classic novel. Fortunately for fans of Jane Austen, several other imaginative reworkings of her beloved novel have been published recently - perhaps a Jane Austen book club could tackle any or all of these and compare different versions of Austen's timeless classic!

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
HarperCollins' The Austen Project presents Austen's six classic novels, reinvented by popular contemporary authors. In Eligible, Sittenfeld (best known for her novel Prep) sets Pride and Prejudice in contemporary Cincinnati and infuses it with plenty of modern-day trials and tribulations, from reality TV to shopping addiction.

Pride by Ibi Zoboi
Described as a "remix" of Pride and Prejudice, this YA novel is set in present-day Brooklyn. In this case, Elizabeth and Darcy are teenagers caught up in the gentrification and class warfare that characterizes their Bushwick neighborhood.

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
Set in Toronto's Muslim community, this retelling focuses on a young poet who finds herself intensely conflicted when her cousin becomes engaged to the dismissive and conservative (but oh-so-handsome) Khalid.

Heartstone by Elle Katharine White
Pride and prejudice and dragons? Why not? White reimagines Austen's novel as an epic fantasy, in which a headstrong young woman finds herself unwillingly engaged in a battle of wills with a handsome dragonrider. White's unique retelling has spawned a series; the third volume, Flamebringer, was published in November 2019.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
In this parody horror version of the classic text, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett trade their sharp tongues for knives and swords as they battle the undead across 19th century England. This retelling was made into a film in 2016 starring Lily James and Sam Riley.

Cover of Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld, courtesy of Penguin Random House

Filed under Reading Lists

This "beyond the book article" relates to Unmarriageable. It originally ran in February 2019 and has been updated for the February 2020 paperback edition. Go to magazine.

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