Ahhhhh, Pride & Prejudice. My ultimate and always comfort story. I will always be down for a retelling (especially a queer one, especially one that pulls such a monumental quote for the title). Also, a word: #team2005 movie version. 

 

No need to give a summary of the story. If you don't know it already...that's on you. Lol. But in this case, our retelling has a wonderful and heartwarming trans spin. Oliver Bennet is our MC, the second oldest Bennet sibling, and yet to come out to anyone other than his older sister, Jane (ever the sweetest and most understanding Bennet family member) and bestie, Charlotte (who has a queer secret of her own). Oliver and Darcy's first interactions are, as expected, less than stellar (not at all helped by the fact that Oliver was dressed up as Elizabeth, since it was a public event and that's who most people think he is). But when Oliver runs into Darcy out and dressed as himself, the two seem to really get along. And Oliver finds himself daydreaming about getting to know Darcy more. As the suitors coming to the Bennet's get more numerous (and bolder, and even threatening - that Wickham is even more horrible here than in the original) and Oliver spends more time as himself, he realizes that the time is coming when he'll have to tell everyone who he really is or find himself trapped and living his entire life as someone he isn't.    

 

Y'all, this retelling was just wonderful. The parallels to the original, with the “remix” additions/changes, are balanced well. It’s honestly a very true to origins retelling, and every aspect that is new or adjusted for Oliver is so smoothly shifted (including the queer shifts around that, particularly Charlotte and Darcy). One of my favorite things was the general lining up of the characters here, and their personalities in the original, to how accepting they are of Oliver's identity. For example, Jane and Mr. Bennet, as the closest to Elizabeth in Austen's version, are the first to "see" Oliver, and most vehemently/lovingly supportive of him. (As I am a simp for good sibling relationships, the way Jane supports Oliver had my heart in a chokehold.) Lydia, Kitty and Mary remain mostly unaware of anything. Wickham, ever the terrible human, was obviously still terrible. The sneaky blackmail situation he tries is a great twist on what he pulls in the original, and actually is even icker, really just pure evil, here. That he pulls Collins into it is absolutely not a surprise; he's easily preyed on because he has no backbone of his own, and that fits him as well. Finally, Mrs. Bennet. I have always been a bit annoyed by her character, sensical though her personality is under the circumstances. And I was both curious and worried about how things would play out when Oliver comes out to her. Small spoiler incoming... While it's fully the most hopeful possible outcome (which is how the orginal goes too, so, that fits as well), it also really made sense to me. True to form, her children marrying and being settled/cared for was her primary concern, and she would do anything/use any connections/ approve any matches that made that possible. That that showed itself as full love and acceptance of Oliver in the end is so much the better. What a heartwarming finale. 

 

Tangential to the retelling itself, I was appreciative of the author's note at the end, in which Novoa speaks, a bit, to the historical reality of trans and queer people in regency England (as far as we know/can tell). He talks a bit about how that informed his writing of the queer aspects of this novel, and where some of his writing veered more into speculation and guesswork on that front. With the non-existence of birth certificates and paperwork the way we know them now, less widely available “scientific” knowledge, a different social outlook, and probably other factors as well, the exercise of considering how many trans people may simply have passed and we never knew/never will know, with a similar consideration for queerness hidden by external “straight” relationships (but existing - strongly - under the surface), is uplifting in an unexpected way. Of course, this only works for people and relationships able to pass, but it definitely had me interested and makes me want to read more about it. 

 

All in all, this was just a really tender and hopeful retelling, with the exact balance of homage to the original and new twists of its own. I loved it. 

 

 “It was a special thing, to have one’s reflection in harmony with who they were.” 

 

“He wanted an openness with someone without fear, without worry. He wanted that ease, but it all seemed impossible.” 

 

“Whisper-thin space between them, under the moon and the stars, infinite possibilities laid out ahead of them.” 

 

“No one wants to deny themselves happiness, Oliver […] But many of us have to choose a middle ground if we hope to survive.” 

 

“He wished it could be like this all the time. More than anything else, this was what he wanted. To be himself, in the open, unabashedly. It could be so easy, but the world made it so difficult.”