Vanity and Vexation

“Fenton’s adroit use of dialogue and her clever characterizations place this one a cut above the usual Pride and Prejudice spinoffs.” —The Seattle Times

“Tall, dark, and arrogantly handsome—not to mention distinguished, powerful, and rolling in money. Mr. Darcy? No, that’s just the woman director of Pride and Prejudice,” reports Nicholas Llewellyn Bevan, impoverished novelist and occasional (reluctant) journalist, when a TV production company trundles into his sleepy North Yorkshire valley. Amusedly he watches these glamorous invaders combine the filming of Jane Austen’s romantic classic with the much less modest pursuit, off camera, of real-life romances with the locals.

Under his very nose, his bashful handsome neighbor John is plucked out of a village dance by the famously gorgeous (and wealthy) leading actress, Candia Bingham, with whom he at once falls completely in love. Our would-be hero manages only to trip over the black-booted foot of the intimidating and imperious director, Mary Dance. So he’s amazed—and a little bit alarmed—when her steely eye seems to be straying his way.

A witty and entertaining update on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Austen fans old and new will adore Vanity and Vexation’s modern take on her sublime blueprint of the romance game complete with sex, money, and power. With an assured and respectful hand, in the context of the contemporary world, Kate Fenton has penned a riveting story with a hilarious twist.

“You don’t have to read Pride and Prejudice—much less remember it—to enjoy the rewrite . . . Austen’s original has great bones, and so does Vanity and Vexation.” —The Washington Post