It is a truth universally acknowledged that a large family household must be in want of some good reads. Whether it’s prize-winning fiction, racy romance or practical advice, the Bennets are interested in YPRL’s offerings.
Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth Bennet is a connoisseur of fine books, as she is a connoisseur of many fine things. She’s not a stuffy reader, but she does appreciate the qualities of clever prose and a plot that makes her think. She thinks of herself as having broad tastes and knowing the what’s what and who’s who of recent literature. When she’s not sure what to read next, she checks what novels have made the prize lists recently—like Melanie Cheng’s The Burrow , Jumaana Abdu’s Translations and Michelle de Kretser’s theory & practice, all shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize. She’s also picked up Alexis Wright’s Praiseworthy, Shankari Chandran’s Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens, Jennifer Downs’s Bodies of Light and Amanda Lohrey’s The Labyrinth, all recent winners of the Miles Franklin award.
Jane Bennet
Jane has always known it would be important for her family that she marry well. She’s known for her beauty and good humour, but she also likes to think about the things that make a life pleasant to spend with someone.
Obviously, in the Bingley household, there will be servants to take care of things. Nonetheless, she takes an interest in baking delectable treats and the cultivation of beautiful flowers. She believes Mr Bingley deserves food worthy of the royals, so she has her eye on The Royal Heritage Cookbook. With this inspiration she knows she can host a high tea that will be the talk of the neighbourhood.
And with a beautiful home on her mind for the future, Jane is keen to uncover Secrets from the Flower Farm to ensure the grounds at Netherfield are full of colour and beauty.
Mary Bennet
No-one has called Mary the life of the party recently. The truth is, she’s a little miffed that no-one seems to quite appreciate her hard study of the proper accomplishments. Nevertheless, this has led her to some self-reflection—is there something a little different about her when compared to her sisters? She’s been visiting the self-help and wellbeing shelves to try to understand how she relates to others. She’s finding The New Psychology: the 50 newest concepts that are shaping how we live and work a great starting point to understand how she might think about her way of being in the world. But she’s also determined to stay true to herself, and is keen to get into How to Be You: say goodbye to what you should, would and could so that you can https://yprl.spydus.com/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/OPAC/BIBENQ?SETLVL=&BRN=1061180&ISGLB=1 so she can fully embrace her own quirks.
Lydia Bennet
Lydia Bennet will not abide boredom. She doesn’t go in for the highbrow stuff that Elizabeth reads, and can’t understand why men like Mr Darcy or even Wickham would like to talk with her about the ponderous tomes when there is so much fun out there.
Hothouse Flower seems like it is exactly her speed – who needs a boring love story when a wild ride is available? A billionaire who wants to climb a mountain? A young girl on the verge of adulthood who just wants to get away from her mother (and be a model in Paris)? That sounds just perfect.
Kitty Bennet
It was most inspiring to see Mr Darcy jump into action in search of Lydia and Mr Wickham—Kitty was definitely inspired by his detective work. She knows she will grow up and have to worry about marriage soon enough, but in the meantime she can enjoy being young and dipping into the best junior and young adult fiction.
She’s already ripped through the Friday Barnes novels, starting with Friday Barnes: Girl Detective , taking inspiration to be a girl detective herself. She appreciates Nancy Drew and is now reading the Enola Holmes mysteries—like Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose (the mongoose sounds like an exotic creature!). She thinks she might even try out Sherlock Holmes to see if he’s as good as his sister—The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes does sound thrilling.
(While she aspires to become a detective herself, she has of course heard rumblings from Northanger Abbey about the hazards of looking for mysteries where there are none.)
Mr Bennet
It’s a trial of the soul having five daughters sometimes. In truth, Mr Bennet likes to take a little respite and visit the library to sit with the daily newspapers—YPRL gets copies of the Sun Herald, the Age, the Australian and the Financial Review delivered for patrons to read in the library. When he’s stuck at home, however, he’s relieved to know he can still access the papers online at the library website. He’s also very glad to get news of the world: now that he has access to the Wall Street Journal on PressReader he wonders if he should have planned better financially for his girls.
Mrs Bennet
People like to call Mrs Bennet a silly woman, and they say her penchant for celebrity memoirs is frivolous—but these are people who got very famous for their work! How is it frivolous to keep up with the fashions of the day? When marrying your daughters off well is your primary task, you need to keep your finger on the pulse.
So reading Jeremy Renner’s My Next Breath to see how he survived and thrived after that terrible accident is very interesting. (A handsome, wealthy man—is he on the marriage market?) And Ru Paul is the definition of fabulous—why not see if he has beauty tips in The House of Hidden Meanings. Then there’s Cher: The Memoir, Part One. She once told her mother she didn’t need to marry a rich man—can you imagine? Mrs Bennet is going to keep that tidbit to herself.
Mr Darcy
At Pemberly, if there must be novels, Mr Darcy prefers the classics. He finds Jane Austen a bit frivolous, truth be told. He personally thinks George Eliot is a more substantial author, and recognises the achievement that is Middlemarch, a book which Virginia Woolf once called “one of the few English novels written for grown-up people”.
Of course, there should be serious books too in a proper personal library. He notes that Willliam Dalrymple’s recent work of history The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World is highly acclaimed and is perusing it before committing to purchasing a copy for his personal library.
Is it time to revisit Jane Austen’s classic novel? Pride and Prejudice is available to read in multiple formats. If you want to revisit the BBC adaption, it is currently available to stream with your library membership on Kanopy.