Eligible Author Curtis Sittenfeld Shares Her Top 10 Books for Pride and Prejudice Fans

While Jane Austen’s enduringly popular novel of love and manners has been retold time and again, through many different mediums, it’s rare that an author of Curtis Sittenfeld’s stature has taken a crack at reimagining Pride and Prejudice. And the results are utterly addictive. With Eligible, Sittenfeld transforms Lizzy and Jane into freelance journalist Liz Bennet and her yoga instructor big sister, two single women on the far side of 35 heading home to Cincinnati after their father’s recent health scare. There, they find their three younger sisters still living at home, the family manse falling apart, and their mother in denial (in between online shopping binges). Sticking around for a while becomes more interesting with the arrival of two hot doctors: Chip Bingley, who falls head over heels for Jane, and the rude, stuffy Fitzwilliam Darcy, with whom Liz forms a combative, thoroughly modern bond. In Sittenfeld’s hands, Bingley is a former reality star, Lydia and Kitty snotty CrossFit enthusiasts, and the indefatigable Mr. Collins a socially awkward tech billionaire. But the story, particularly its savvy heroine, maintains the spirit of its source material, while producing fresh pleasures of its own. Here’s author Sittenfeld on 10 more books every Pride and Prejudice fan must read.

A Guinea Pig Pride & Prejudice, by Jane Austen, Alex Goodwin, and Tess Gammell
If you’re anything like me, you had no idea how much the world needed a furry rodent reenactment of Lizzie and Darcy’s love story until one existed. These staged photos wink but don’t mock, and the (human) authors’ affection for their source material is obvious.

The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P., by Adelle Waldman
This whip-smart novel brings Austen’s level of anthropological insight to the romantic machinations of youngish contemporary New Yorkers.

The Love Letter, by Cathleen Schine
An anonymous love letter is delightfully disruptive to the owner of an indie bookstore, and to others in her small town, in this very romantic tale.

Longbourn, by Jo Baker
It turns out the goings-on of the Bennet family’s household look a little different when you’re their maid. This is an insightful and impeccably researched reimagining of Pride and Prejudice from the servants’ perspective (meaning it also contains some of the upstairs-downstairs flavor of Downton Abbey).

The Virgin Suicides, by Jeffrey Eugenides
The five Bennet sisters find their counterparts (sort of) in the five Lisbon sisters, who, true to the novel’s title, off themselves one by one in their suburban neighborhood. This is a strange, dreamy novel I suspect has inspired several of fiction’s first-person plural narrators since.

Persuasion, by Jane Austen
This was the final novel Austen wrote and happened to be the last of her novels I read. It’s bittersweet in tone and filled with classic Austen wisdom—and I was genuinely unsure of who’d find love with whom.

Pride & Prejudice: A BabyLit Counting Primer, by Jennifer Adams
This is a wonderfully illustrated counting book, with the items all Austen-inspired: four marriage proposals, etc., etc.

Cozy Classics: Pride & Prejudice, by Jack & Holman Wang
Can there be too many board books inspired by Pride and Prejudice? Surprisingly, no, at least if they’re this charming. Humblingly, the book distills all the drama and romance of Pride and Prejudice down to twelve words, and it actually does a really respectable job. I can only dream of being so concise.

Stiltsville, by Susanna Daniel
While taking place in a completely different time and place from Pride and Prejudice (late 20th-century Miami), I’d argue Daniel picks up where Austen left off, which is after the wedding vows have been exchanged. Stiltsville follows a marriage over many decades, from start to finish, and it’s incredibly wise, compassionate, and moving.

Jane Austen: A Life, by Claire Tomalin
Okay, full disclosure: I’m only about 20 pages in, but it’s considered the definitive biography of Austen and it’s excellent and very detailed so far (let’s just say I’d never given thought to whether Austen’s mom breastfed her). I can’t wait to learn more about the writer who has brought so much joy to so many of us.
Eligible hits shelves April 19, and is available for pre-order now.