The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet -Cowley
Audio performance by Alison Larkin
3 stars

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I’ve given it 3 stars because there was an involved mystery that did keep my attention. At least I was curious enough to finish the book.

Mary Bennet is the least likable of the Bennet sisters in Pride and Prejudice, but I always felt sympathetic to her. She was very much a middle child, as I am. We have our issues and our coping mechanisms. In the original Austin, Mary is a minor character with mildly annoying (and humorous) personality quirks. In this book, which features Mary as the leading protagonist, Mary is insufferable. I wanted to shake her. She stopped being even slightly amusing. Her self-involved and self-defeating behavior dragged my attention away from the plot.

When I did attend to the plot, I had to suspend a great deal of disbelief. That’s not a bad thing, it’s fiction. Mary’s mentor, the mysterious Lady Trafford, has unusual attitudes concerning female roles and racial inclusion. (It made me wonder what Austin would think about the continuing lives of her characters.) This 19th century England probably exists in a parallel universe. It’s the only way to explain the anachronisms. That said, there was an interesting cast of diverse characters.

I know this book is a setup for an ongoing series. It may be that the book bogged down as a result. The slow revelations of background details felt clunky and manipulative to me. I’m not inspired to read any of the following books. ( )

In this Pride and Prejudice sequel Mr Bennet has died, and during her nighttime vigil Mary receives a visit from unknown relations, introduced as Lady Trafford and her nephew Henry Withrow. Lady Trafford invites Mary for a visit to their home of Castle Durrington in Sussex to be educated in various subjects. But mysteries surround her. Can they be resolved.
This is Mary of canon, struggling with herself, the interactions with other people, and the circumstances of her current life.
A delightful and entertaining well-written historical mystery. A wonderful start to the series. ( )

In a twist on Jane Austen, Ms. Cowley makes Mary Bennet socially awkward (maybe on the spectrum?) rather than a pompous bore. She also sets up a potential series by having Mary be groomed and potentially recruited to spy for England. ( )