Book Review: Unexpected Friends and Relations
By Elizabeth Suggs
Unexpected Friends & Relations by Jayne Bamber is a Jane Austen crossover with tales of woe, of pain, and of many different stories. I’m a bit of a classical book lover myself, so getting a chance to review something that was inspired by Austen’s stories was too tempting to pass up.
This book can be read as a standalone, but the author highly recommends reading book one, but I didn’t read book one, and while there were a few things lost on me, overall, I understood most of what was going on.
This is a thick read, and if you’re listening to it, like I did, it’s a little over 30 hours of listening time, but the lovely audiobook narrator Liz Christensen did a fantastic job narrating the story. Each one of her characters are truly distinct and memorable.
There’s a lot to unpack in this book and we don’t have much time, so I’m going to condense the story down: Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy have married and after a cozy Christmas at Pemberley, they’ve returned to London with their family. Georgiana Darcy is suffering with what happened at Ramsgate. Caroline Bingley is unhappily married and desperate to salvage her position in society. Lady Rebecca Fitzwilliam travels to Surrey on a mission of mercy. And Mary Bennet is working on her own demons. These are just small mentions of a very large story with complex characters, ideas, and decisions.
If you love Jane Austen stories or you’re just warming up to the idea, then look no further! This is a fantastic book to dive into and learn the different intricacies of life set in another time with people who want and need things that aren’t so different from what we want and need now.
I recommend this book!
Elizabeth Suggs is co-owner of the indie publisher Collective Tales Publishing, owner of Editing Mee, and is the author of a growing number of published stories, two of which were in a podcast and poetry journal. She is the president of two writing groups, one being part of the LUW. She’s a book reviewer (EditingMee.com) and popular bookstagramer and cosplayer (@ElizabethSuggsAuthor). When she’s not writing or reading, she’s playing video/board games or making cookies.