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Reviewed by C.R. Hurst for Readers' Favorite
Jane Austen and Regency-era aficionados will, without doubt, enjoy Pride and Perjury by Alice McVeigh. This collection of twenty Austen-inspired vignettes are variations of the 19th-century classics, Pride and Prejudice and Emma. The author delves deeply into Austen’s arguably two most popular novels to uncover threads of plotlines and minor characters not developed in the originals, creating a nostalgic return to backstories that Austen fans would like to learn more about and to characters we grew to love or, in some cases, as Austen herself might have said, grew to have no liking for. With attention to detail and obvious love of her subject, Alice McVeigh creates a wonderful tribute to Austen’s legacy.
Perhaps most apparent is how well the style of Austen is captured by the author: the quaint speech patterns, the subtle humor, and the satirical jabs at high society’s preoccupation with appearances are all on display here. Yet what I liked most about Pride and Perjury was the way it shows how the past of a character can influence the present – such is the case with a story called Mary Rose in which Mr. Knightley, the much older love interest from Austen’s Emma, remembers a tragic incident from twenty years earlier. In this story, Knightley reveals that he had had a forbidden love affair with a young woman named Mary Rose, the circumstances of which may explain why he was so reluctant to declare his love for Emma and why he was so often critical of her. Did he see his own past recklessness and immaturity in her? We, of course, will never know for sure, but variations upon Austen’s classic love stories such as this one make one thing clear – Austen’s novels are unlikely to be forgotten with talented and perceptive authors like Alice McVeigh paying homage to them.
