Modern sequel to Jane Austen classic explores silly sister’s life

“I have family in Brighton and it was on a visit that I first started wondering about what life in Regency Brighton would have been like for a young girl like fun-loving Lydia who finds herself in a place teeming with gorgeous officers,” says Lydia Bennet’s Story author Jane Odiwe. “Jane Austen doesn’t tell us how she and Mr. Wickham get together.”

     Lydia Bennet’s Story is a romp. The story begins before Lydia goes off to Brighton in Pride & Prejudice. Lydia’s character is the same silly flirt, but without her sisters to watch her she’s uncontrollable and ends up with wicked Wickham. The adventures that she gets into with Wickam go beyond Pride & Prejudice.

     “I hope the humor and tongue-in-cheek aspect of some of the situations Lydia finds herself in comes across in Lydia Bennet’s Story,” says Odiwe. “I did want my reader to laugh out loud. I often think people forget when they are analyzing Austen’s books that her work is very funny and it was important for me to try and add that element of humor in my writing.”

     “I visited Brighton and Bath where scenes take place in the book,” say Odiwe. “As I strolled along the seafront I could just imagine the balls at the Castle Assemblies and the promenades along the Steyne, against the backdrop of fashion, scandal and frivolous living at the Marine Pavilion, home to the Prince Regent. I particularly enjoyed writing the scenes at Brighton and Bath with all the descriptions of balls, race meetings and socializing at the pump rooms.”

     “I self-published Lydia Bennet’s Story and then a week later received a most exciting phone call from Deb Werksman at Sourcebooks Inc. to say she’d like to publish my book,” says Odiwe. “I met her in London the next day and my dream of becoming a published writer came true in a restaurant just off Leicester Square. I had to keep pinching myself. I felt as if I was in a scene from a book or film.”

     Jane Odiwe was born in Sutton Coldfield in England and currently lives in High Barnet on the edge of London. Before becoming a writer she taught History and Art for many years.

     In Lydia Bennet’s Story, Odiwe has Lydia write in a journal. That such a silly girl would bother to keep a journal seems out of character. If Lydia did keep a journal, it would be filled with self-absorbed nonsense. That could have been funny, but as it is the story would have moved along at a better pace had the journal entries not been present.  

Lydia Bennet's Story: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Odiwe