The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet

By Bernie Su and

Kate Rorick

Romance

Historical (Adaptation)

New College

OK, so call me a geek, but this book was fantastic. And not because it was a brilliant, modern retelling of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice, but because of the way it was told and how it tied into the cross media storytelling webisodes of the same name. Yes, that is right. When the main character Lizzie Bennet writes in her 'diary' that she has a college project where she is videoing the life and times of her family and friends, you can in fact WATCH the video blogs (vlogs) on You Tube. And the first video has over 2.3 million viewings already!

OK, so I watched the webisodes over a year ago – in one sitting – and when I came across this book on a list of Jane Austin inspired retellings, I thought it was weird that someone had written a book with the same title as the webisodes, until I actually found out that it is a cross media tie-in. The story book basically fills in the behind the scenes that the vlogs don't show and it brings so much more depth to, not just the webisodes, but the whole multimedia project. I loved it! Total geek, I know.

The story starts off with Lizzie Bennet complaining in her diary about a t-shirt her mother gave her with the inscription on it that reads: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” And Lizzie has no idea where the classic quote comes from. She then goes on to explain her college new media project that involves her retelling her life in a series of vlogs and how she will try to interact with her audience through the comments section on each post.

When she meets the annoying and seriously sour William Darcy, she describes him in great detail and her audience wants to learn more. And thus begins a weird relationship with her vlog audience who want to learn more about her weird family, her amazing friend, the budding relationship between her sister Jane and the Mr Bing, and her career aspirations in New Media. And of course, the dashing Mr Darcy.

Seriously, a fantastic retelling of P&P, and done in such a way that the society expectations, the language and dress and the interplay between the different characters of class are all on par with Jane Austin's world. And when Libby, Lizzie's younger and more outgoing sister gets into trouble with George Wickham, the depth of betrayal, the atrocious scandal and the way it rocks the whole family and their friends, this story plays it incredibly well.

So yeah, I loved it.

5 stars out of 5 and don't forget to watch the You Tube webisodes of the same title, found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KisuGP2lcPs