Rose Servitova

Overall, this book cannot be recommended. It starts by reproducing from Austen's novel Mr Collins letter announcing his visit to Longbourn. This makes reading all that follows even more painful, so much so that it is difficult to summarise in a few words how bad this self-published book is. The basic idea is good – extend the story of 'Pride and Prjudice' through an ongoing correspondence (however unlikely that sounds) between Mr Bennett and Mr Collins, over a period of a few years. That could make for a very humorous epistolary sequel to Jane Austen's novel.

But the execution in this book is very poor, in a number of ways. First, the author cannot decide whether she is imitating Austen's prose or updating it, and falls between two stools. Throwing in a few phrases or recollections from the original to make this book sound more Austen-like does not work, and there are many jarring uses of modern slang.

Second, the humour is applied with such a heavy hand that it becomes very tiresome. It is never clear whether Mr Bennett is seeking to provoke or being straightforward, and Mr Collins' letters portray him not as a foolish and vain young man but as a complete idiot.

There are other problems. Some of the plot developments are risible, such as a highly unlikely marriage for one of the Bennett sisters, and another which is obviously contrived. Towards the end there is a headlong rush as the author stuffs more and more storylines in. And the author has an incomplete grasp of history, for example where she suggests that Lady Catherine could dismiss Collins from his post, and greatly over-emphasises Nelson's importance at the time the book is set. Finally, the editing is slack. Who knew that there are 31 days in November? Apparently there were in 1794.

Only buy this book if you can find it very cheap.… (mer)