Rational Creatures edited by Christina Boyd

Rational Creatures: Stirrings of Feminism in the Hearts of Jane Austen's Fine Ladies edited by Christina Boyd with a Foreword by Devony Looser --- 465 pages including  Acknowledgements by the editor.

Rational Creatures is a collection of short stories providing another look, from a different angle, at a number of Jane Austen's characters. The sixteen modern authors who appear here are part of the "Quill Collective." In this, the third volume by the Quill Collective, sixteen modern authors examine the nascent feminism of Mary Wollstonecraft displayed by Austen's strong female characters in their determination at least to have a voice in deciding who they would marry.  Previous volumes by the Quill Collective include The Darcy Monologues: A Romance Anthology of "Pride & Prejudice" Short Stories in Mr. Darcy's Own Words and Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen's Rakes and Gentlemen Rogues.

For those who love Regency romances, and for those who admire Jane Austen.

Click HERE to read the review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from Austenesque Reviews.com

Click HERE to read the review from Austenprose.com

Emma by Alexander McCall Smith

Emma: A Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith --- 361 pages

HarperCollins' "Austen Project," an attempt to update Jane Austen to the 21st century is not doing particularly well. So far I've tried Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope, Val McDermid's take on Northanger Abbey, and now Alexander McCall Smith's rendition of Emma.  

They just don't pull it off.  McCall Smith's novel really ought to be called "Mr. Woodhouse," rather than "Emma." Certainly the best drawn and most fully realized character in McCall Smith's version is Mr. Woodhouse, who is now fixated on viruses and global warming instead of drafts and chicken thieves. Jane Fairfax doesn't even show up until two-thirds of the way through, Mr. Elton barely registers, and both George Knightley and Frank Churchill seem to be afterthoughts. 

I've enjoyed most of McCall Smith's own books, and he usually has a deft touch with his characters. But this time he seems to be just going through the motions. Austen famously observed that in Emma she was choosing a heroine whom no one would like but herself; yet her Emma, for all her faults, is at heart well-intentioned and honest. When she does wrong, she repents; more importantly, she tries to learn from her mistakes, and studies to do better. McCall Smith tells us that his Emma has good qualities, but what he shows us is not very convincing. 

There are still three more Austen retellings to come: Pride and Prejudice retold by Curtis Sittenfeld, is due out later this year.  Authors for Mansfield Park and Persuasion have yet to be announced. Perhaps one of these will succeed where their predecessors have failed. I am not holding my breath.   

Click HERE for a brief interview with Alexander McCall Smith talking about Emma.

Click HERE to read a review from the UK Guardian.

Click HERE to read a review from the US Book Tribune.

Click HERE to read a review from the UK Telegraph.

Click HERE to read a review from the Washington Post.

Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid

Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid --- 343 pages

Scottish crime fiction writer Val McDermid has produced a contemporary retelling of Jane Austen's Gothic parody classic as the second volume in HarperCollins' "Austen Project." This follows last year's project debut with Joanna Trollope reworking Sense and Sensibility. 

While I'd give McDermid's effort equal marks with Trollope's, so far I have to say my reaction to HarperCollins bright idea is that their marketing gimmick is like a three day old helium balloon, slowly but steadily deflating.

McDermid displays an unsuspected talent for light comedy, and there are a number of sly literary allusions that the knowledgeable will enjoy, but this is, essentially, just one more effort to milk the Austen cash cow.

But here are two contrasting recent reviews that you can read before deciding for yourself whether this is worth a look. And by the way, I strongly endorse The Guardian reviewer's recommendation of Jo Baker's Longbourn as an original and far superior perspective on Austen's work.

Click HERE to read The Guardian review of Val McDermid's Northanger Abbey.

Click HERE to read the Boston Globe review of Val McDermid's Northanger Abbey.

Click HERE to access the web site of the Austen Project.

Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynn Shepherd

Murder at Mansfield Park: A Novel by Lynn Shepherd --- 363 pages

In her first novel Lynn Shepherd demonstrates she is a literary talent to reckon with, as she turns Jane Austen's classic Mansfield Park inside out and into an equally witty murder mystery to boot.

The famously meek Fanny Price has been transformed from the poor and put upon relation to a spoilt and conniving heiress, while Mary Crawford now takes center stage as the quietly intelligent and long-suffering heroine of Shepherd's tale, faced with the horrifying choice of incriminating either her beloved but headstrong brother Henry, or Edmund, the man who has secretly won her heart, as the murderer.

Shepherd also introduces her own sleuth, the London thief-taker Charles Maddox. Retained by the Mansfield family to discover the truth of these terrible events, Maddox finds himself captivated by Mary's quiet intelligence and strength of character.

Throughout her carefully plotted tale, Shepherd also brilliantly maintains Austen's distinctive narrative voice, seamlessly interweaving Austen's words with her own. What P.D. James attempted to do in Death at Pemberley, Shepherd has achieved in Murder at Mansfield Park, giving us a murder mystery that might have come from the fertile pen of Austen herself.

Lynn Shepherd has published two subsequent mysteries with literary antecedents, featuring Charles Maddox: The Solitary House (based on Charles Dickens' Bleak House) and A Fatal Likeness (based on the lives of Percy Bysshe Shelley and his wife Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein). A fourth Charles Maddox mystery, based on Bram Stoker's Dracula, is scheduled for publication later this year. All are highly recommended.

Click HERE to check out Lynn Shepherd's blog!

Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope

Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope --- 362 pages

Joanna Trollope's modern re-tooling of Jane Austen's 19th century classic is the first of a planned series of re-tellings of Austen's six published novels  to be issued by Harper Collins' Austen Project. Each re-telling will be written by a best-selling contemporary author.  2014 will see the publication of Northanger Abbey by British mystery writer Val McDermid and Pride & Prejudice by American (and St. Louis) author Curtis Sittenfeld.  Harper Collins also recently announced that Alexander McCall Smith has signed on to produce an updated Emma. Yet to be revealed are authors for rewrites of Austen's Mansfield Park and Persuasion.


Trollope, related to although not a direct descendent of Victorian author Anthony Trollope, is the author of many popular contemporary and historical novels. Her updated version of Austen's story is clever and plausible but falls short of Austen's penetrating eye for the ridiculous and ironic.

And as more than one reviewer has mentioned, her heroines, Ellie and M. (Elinor and Marianne), and all the people around them, are curiously old-fashioned in their attitude toward marriage as the ultimate source of financial security for women.

An amusing read, although I suspect that to appreciate the fun the reader needs to be familair with the original --- there are crucial passages that will leave those who are not familiar scratching their heads and wondering what all the fuss is about.

 Click HERE to watch a BBC-TV interview with Joanna Trollope talking about her S&S and Austen's.

Joanna Trollope and Jane Austen