The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch

by Melinda Taub

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Who doesn’t love Jane Austen retellings? This is another delightful read for the bunch, and it has witches, redemption and fresh takes on classic characters.

In this "magical, brilliant" (Lev Grossman, New York Times bestselling author) reimagining of Pride and Prejudice, the youngest Bennett sister is given the spotlight.

In this exuberant retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Lydia Bennet puts pen to paper to relate the real events and aftermath of the classic story. Some facts are well known: Mrs. Bennet suffers from her nerves, Mr. Bennet suffers from Mrs. Bennet, and all five daughters suffer from an estate that is entailed only to male heirs.

But Lydia also suffers from entirely different concerns: her best-loved sister Kitty is really a barn cat; Wickham is every bit as wicked as the world believes him to be, but what else would one expect from a demon? And if Mr. Darcy is uptight about etiquette, that’s nothing compared to his feelings about magic. Most of all, Lydia has yet to learn that for a witch, promises have power . . .

Full of enchantment, intrigue, and boundless magic, The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch, has all the irreverent wit, strength, and romance of Pride and Prejudice—while offering a highly unexpected redemption for the wildest Bennet sister.

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY PICK FOR 2023

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538739228
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	10/03/2023
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	54,238
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Melinda Taub is an Emmy- and Writers’ Guild Award-winning writer. The former head writer and executive producer of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, she is also the author of Still Star-Crossed, a young adult novel which was adapted for television by Shondaland. (She also wrote that thing about the Baroness in The Sound of Music that your aunt likes.) She lives in Brooklyn.
 

Editorial Reviews

08/14/2023

Taub (Still Star-Crossed) makes her adult debut with a clumsy fantasy remix of Pride and Prejudice. Most of the book is presented as a long letter that Lydia, the youngest and flightiest Bennet daughter, is writing to a purposefully obfuscated correspondent about her life story, including her discovery of her magical powers and subsequent use of them to turn her cat familiar into her human sister Kitty, her unthinking bargain with the demonic dragon Wormenheart, and her “elopement” with Mr. Wickham, who here is reimagined as Wormenheart’s demonic son. Meanwhile, in the frame narrative, Lydia befriends Georgiana Darcy, who, in a bizarre defiance of canon, is at school in Newcastle, where Wickham’s regiment is stationed. Unfortunately, the momentum of this frame plot relies entirely on Mr. Darcy making nonsensical choices, the Austen pastiche is stilted, and Taub favors a flowery style (“Young ladies are met with prognostications of doom for the slightest transgression, and I feel that is unwise”), which creates some dissonance between the narrative voice and the characterization of Lydia. The witchy conceit is fun enough that all this might be forgivable, but the novel’s worst failing is its treatment of the lone character of color, who is transfigured partway through into a magical rock and must be saved by Lydia. Given the proliferation of Austen retellings, readers will be better served elsewhere. Agent: Jennifer Joel, ICM Partners. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"[S]imply wonderful, a laugh-and-cry book. Taub’s close reading of and research into Austen’s work is remarkable; she threads a careful needle between invention and retelling, contemporary legibility and historical homage. The result is a terrifically well-balanced novel blending romance, fantasy and mystery."—New York Times

"Novels about witches are thick on the ground at present, but this one stands out for its wit and charm. . . [T]his Regency-era comedy of manners makes for a lively, delightful adventure."
—The Guardian

"Wildly inventive and utterly addictive. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm now 100% Team Lydia."—Julia Quinn

“This book is pure joy. Absolutely rollicking, thoroughly delightful; Melinda Taub peered directly into my soul and gave me the adventure I needed, plus feisty witches in empire waist dresses and the Kitty of my dreams. I’ll be over here, swooning on my fainting couch.”—Samantha Bee

“A romping, lively retelling with surprises galore! It’s a delight to see Lydia Bennet receive her due.”—Tamora Pierce

"What a delicious book this is — like Lydia, it’s headlong, a little wicked, and irrepressibly fun. And if that weren’t enough, it gave me an entirely new lens through which to appreciate Jane Austen’s Bennet family. Melinda Taub writes with a forensic wit and understanding of the desire to be loved and understood, even when those two things stand in seeming opposition. And like Georgette Heyer at her best, or, indeed, Austen, she has the alchemist’s touch which turns this exploration into something delightful."—Kelly Link

"Witty, magical, romantic and altogether brilliant! There’s so much more to Pride and Prejudice than we ever knew."—Lev Grossman

"[A] clever twist on Jane Austen's classic."

—Country Living

“[A] fun new hybrid of Jane Austen’s mannerly world and the highly contrasting world of 19th century witchcraft. It’s perfect for readers who enjoy a good mash-up involving a classic story, some modern views on social expectations, and a dose of occult suspense.”—Shondaland

"[Taub] cleverly inserts Lydia's magical misadventures into the original story, creating something wholly original and utterly charming."—Booklist

“A spritely Regency gavotte with booming gothic bass notes: pure joy.”—Daily Mail

“Funny and fierce as Lydia Bennet herself, this book mixes witchcraft lore with Austen’s story to make its own unique magic. I’ll never look at Kitty the same way again…” —Claudia Gray, author of The Murder of Mr. Wickham, a Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney Mystery

"The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch is a delightfully rendered redemption of the much maligned youngest Bennet daughter, Lydia; whose ill-advised actions that once threatened the Bennett sisters futures are finally proven to be less a girlish folly and more the result of a sacrifice made meant to save them all. Filled with magic, mayhem and manners, Melinda Taub has crafted a world both familiar and strange, faithful and fantastic. Scandalous Confessions is a welcome addition to the Austen Universe." —Amiee Gibbs, author of The Carnivale of Curiosities

"Taub’s wit and creativity shines through. . . A delight for both Austen lovers and fans of magical adventure stories."—Kirkus Reviews

"A funny, lighthearted read recommended for those who love a retelling wish a dash of magic and a witty heroine."—Library Journal

“This is a masterpiece and a treat for any Austen fan.”—All About Romance

From the Publisher

08/01/2023

Taub's (Still Star-Crossed) adult debut reexamines Pride and Prejudice through a new lens with a light touch. Allowing Lydia Bennet to recount her own story, this retelling imagines that she is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and thus born a witch. Also, Kitty Bennet is actually a cat that Lydia has bewitched to appear human. Jumping around in time, with witty asides and honest commentary, Lydia relates how she came to run away from home, why she ended up with Wickham, and more. Full of spell-casting garden parties, demons, hidden jewels, vibrant dances, backstabbing, and societal slights, this is vividly descriptive, frothy fun. While Pride and Prejudice has been retold from Lydia's perspective before, her frank, humorous, narration of her own misadventures in Taub's version adds a great deal, as does the magical intrigue. The concluding author's note comments on the many influences, stories, and myths that fused to become Lydia's story, including which bits came from Jane Austen and what Taub made up herself. VERDICT A funny, lighthearted read recommended for those who love a retelling with a dash of magic and a witty heroine.—Katie Lawrence

Library Journal

2023-08-12
A secret society exists within the mores and marriage plots of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter must be a witch.” Enter Lydia Bennet, the youngest of the Bennet sisters. Anyone who has read the source material will insist that Lydia is the fifth daughter and thus the maxim shouldn’t apply. But they are not factoring in the three eldest sisters who died shortly after birth. Nor are they aware that Kitty, the second-youngest sister, doesn’t count since she’s a cat Lydia hexed into girlhood without her family remembering. In setting down Lydia’s recollections, Taub breathes new life into classic characters in a novel that is carefully researched and surprisingly layered. Magic comes at a price here, and for every spell a witch casts she must offer up something in return. Lydia’s troubles start when, in order to spare her and Kitty’s lives, she foolishly makes a promise to Lord Wormenheart, a dragon demon. Years later, Wormenheart comes to collect what he is owed, which sends Lydia on a dangerous adventure to Brighton. There she seeks out the Jewel of Propriety with the help of fellow witches Mrs. Harriet Forster, a beautiful but existentially unsatisfied colonel’s wife, and Miss Maria Lambe, daughter of a freed Black woman and a South Seas plantation owner’s son. Lydia’s future husband, George Wickham, who in this telling is Wormenheart’s demon son, lends help and a good deal of mischief. Mostly detailing events from her past, Lydia also describes her current (though far less engaging) predicament, trying to help Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy’s hexed sister, Georgiana. While at times the story drags, Taub’s wit and creativity shines through, making even the Kitty/kitty character endearing where a lesser writer might have made it grating. As our heroine says: “though it is dauntingly long I daresay it is charmingly written.”

A delight for both Austen lovers and fans of magical adventure stories.

Kirkus Reviews