I absolutely love Jane Austen and of course Pride and Prejudice so when I head about What Kitty Did Next, the story of Kitty Bennet I was all for getting my hands on it. Before I tell you my thoughts here is what the book is about.
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England, 1813 – Nineteen-year-old Catherine Bennet lives in the shadow of her two eldest sisters, Elizabeth and Jane, who have both made excellent marriages. No one expects Kitty to amount to anything. Left at home in rural Hertfordshire with her neurotic and nagging mother, and a father who derides her as ‘silly and ignorant’, Kitty is lonely, diffident and at a loss as to how to improve her situation.
When her world unexpectedly expands to London and the Darcy’s magnificent country estate in Derbyshire, she is overjoyed. Keen to impress this new society, and to change her family’s prejudice, Kitty does everything she can to improve her mind and manners – and for the first time feels liked and respected. However, one fateful night at Pemberley, a series of events and misunderstandings conspire to ruin Kitty’s reputation. Accused of theft – a crime worse almost worse than murder among the Georgian aristocracy – she is sent back home in disgrace. But Kitty has learnt from her new experiences and what she does next does next will not only surprise herself, but everyone else too.
Based on Jane Austen’s much-loved characters, this is the story of one young woman’s struggle to overcome the obstacles of her time and place and truly find herself.
What Kitty Did Next will be released on the 28th June 2018.
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I didn’t realise how much I needed this book until I had it in my hands. I loved being reunited with these characters!! I know that they are readily available in the original but there is something magical about getting another story for them, seeing how events continue and meeting lots of new and interesting characters too.
I think it is a brilliant continuation of the story, the writing was easy to follow whilst being in a style befitting the time period and the author has managed to keep the characters true to the original story without losing her own style in the process.
At the beginning of the book there is a lot of time establishing the characters as they are now which is brilliant for Austen fans and those not familiar with the story because it gives you an insight into the workings of society and for piecing together how everyone is related. However I could imagine that because of this some might find it slow to start, it didn’t feel that way to me, I was enjoying being immersed into the story, too busy thinking of balls and London.
I loved how much Kitty grew as a person in this story, she goes from feeling overlooked and generally lumped in with Lydia’s character to being her own person and showing that she is in fact much more like Jane and Lizzy, with varied interests and talents and is actually very observant and witty. I liked that she got to be close friends with Georgiana and had relationships that were better for her.
It was of course lovely to hear about Lizzy and Jane again but I liked that the focus was Kitty and her travels and pursuits. This seems very strange to say but I liked the tension in the book in the second half, when Kitty has been wronged and no one believes her. I got so mad at the Darcy’s but the resulting effect of the incident on other relationships was a benefit, I loved the camaraderie between Kitty and Mr Bennet by the end.
Everything felt as it should be when the story was finished but I have to say I’m sad all over again to let go of these characters and I’m more than a little hoping that we get more in the same vein from this author.
I think even if you aren’t a big Austen fan you’ll love reading this story because it is a real treat, I would highly recommend it.
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Be sure to have a nosy at what the other stops on the tour have to offer…
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Carrie Kablean began her career in London, where she was born, and now lives in Australia. Arriving in Sydney in 1990 (via eight years in Papua New Guinea, during which time she edited the local newspaper on Bougainville), she was with The Australian newspaper for more than 20 years, and was, concurrently, a theatre critic for the Sunday Telegraph.
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everywhere-and-nowhere.com 
I’m certainly surprised that there’s not more retellings/continuations of Pride & Prejudice out there!
Kitty was definitely an under-developed and overlooked character in the original so it’s great to see her in the spotlight for once! I’ve been hearing such great things about this now from so many different bloggers so will definitely try and pick up a copy!
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I know me too, maybe because it’s such a classic it puts people off? I don’t know but I’m glad this one was written, you should get your hands on it and if you do I hope you enjoy it!! 😊
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“I didn’t realise how much I needed this book until I had it in my hands.” I had the same reaction (I’m on the blog tour, too) to this book. I was really not expecting to be as blown away as I was by the writing, Kitty’s story line, and the re-appearances of favorite P&P characters. Great review!
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Thank you, I know and I liked that the characters exceeded my expectations, I knew how they should be but they were even better, I’ll have to check out your review tomorrow ☺️
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