Ladies in Waiting

Jane Austen's Unsung Characters

By: Adriana Trigiani, Sarah MacLean, Eloisa James, Elinor Lipman, Audrey Bellezza, Karen Dukess, Emily Harding, Nikki Payne, Diana Quincy

Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio, Billie Fulford-Brown, Fiona Hardingham, Angel Pean

Celebrate Jane Austen’s classic novels with this short story anthology starring forgotten characters as they experience their own happy endings.

In honor of her 250th birthday, eight authors have come together with wildly imaginative reboots of the lives of several of Jane Austen’s minor characters. Written with plenty of love and wit, these clever stories star everyone from Pride and Prejudice’s snobbish Caroline Bingley to the modern descendant of Sense and Sensibility’s Eliza Williams and much more. Blurring genres and taking us across the oceans, Ladies in Waiting is a heartfelt celebration of Jane Austen and her timeless masterpieces.

I could see myself rereading this

I really enjoyed all the stories, except the story about the Elizas. (That one was basically about two centuries of depression and bad luck with a vague feminist twist.)
But back to the fun stuff. The two Miss Bates stories were so different from each other, but equally creative. It was nice to see a somewhat pitiful character get two happy endings.
My favorite selection,was Eloisa James’ fun story about love redeemed -it even came with a mini epilogue.
The Caroline Bingley in this book didn’t bear much resemblance personality-wise, to Jane Austin‘s Caroline Bingley but her story was thoroughly engaging and enjoyable.
Lydia Wickham’s story came in as a close second for me. I love the fact that she ended up with a vicar. It was satisfying to see Lydia gradually repair her relationship with Lizzie and Darcy. I wasn’t sure how this story would measure up to the Audible Original “Mrs. Wickham” but this took a completely different approach, and features 36-year-old Lydia who is older and wiser.
I feel my credit was well spent on this book