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  • Lizzy Bennet’s Diary: 1811–1812 Discovered by Marcia Williams by Marcia Williams
  • Karen Coats
Williams, Marcia, ad. Lizzy Bennet’s Diary: 1811–1812 Discovered by Marcia Williams; written and illus. by Marcia Williams. Candlewick, 2014. 112p. ISBN 978-0-7636-7030-6 $16.99 R* Gr. 4-6.

The enduring appeal of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice lies at least in part in Elizabeth Bennet’s piquant observations about her sisters and her neighbors. These take center stage in this smartly conceived abridgement of the novel for a young audience, fashioned as a diary given to “Lizzy” by her father. In her diary, Lizzy offers up witty commentary on the events that transpire from the time the sisters get word of a wealthy, unattached gentleman taking up residence at nearby Netherfield to her own installment at Pemberley as the newlywed Lizzy Darcy. With endpapers that feature “personal views” of Longbourn and Pemberley, the book features (photographed) bits of material and embellishments chosen for dresses and hats, dried flowers, locks of hair, and feathers, as well as tiny drawings, silhouettes and pasted-in ball invitations, calling and dance cards, and letters. These bits and bobs supplement the dated entries to give a feel for everyday life in 1811, while the color portraits combine authentic period detail with comic caricature to convey how Lizzy feels about each character. Lizzy doesn’t spare herself from comic treatment either; when she realizes her true feelings for Mr. Darcy, she includes a series of tiny pictures of herself in various states of highly mercurial and antic emotion. This wry sense of humor animates the text throughout and makes the perennially popular love story not only accessible but thoroughly absorbing for young readers, who will surely be captivated by some aspect of Lizzy’s tale; after all, who doesn’t have an embarrassing family, or wish for true love, or find snooty people tiresome, etc., etc.? Jane Austen’s early critics called her sunshine; Marcia Williams has managed to capture that feeling of light and warmth for a new generation of readers.

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