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A Review for Lydia Bennet's Story from Booklist

I must admit I was really thrilled when I read this review of the Sourcebooks edition of Lydia Bennet's Story.

Lydia Bennet’s one goal in life is to be the first of her sisters to marry. That dream seems to come true when dashing regimental soldier George Wickham asks her to elope with him. It takes a bit of time—and some active involvement from one of her sisters’ suitors, a certain Mr. Darcy—before Lydia and George are actually married. Soon after the wedding, though, Lydia discovers married life is not quite the round of social events, nonstop shopping, and the attention of a devoted husband that she imagined. Snippets from Lydia’s “diary” are interspersed in each chapter as Odiwe re-creates her version of what happened to the “wild” Bennet sister from Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice. While Lydia’s story might be sexier than what Austen would have written, Odiwe emulates Austen’s famous wit, and manages to give Lydia a happily-ever-after ending worthy of any Regency romance heroine.

— John Charles