The Jane Austen retellings you should read

Elizabeth and Darcy have been married for six years, with two handsome and healthy sons, and Jane and Bingley live nearby. Pemberley seems unassailable. But, on the eve of the annual autumn ball, a chaise appears carrying Lydia Wickham, who stumbles out screaming that her husband has been murdered.

This Austen retelling was adapted into a mini-series by the BBC in 2013, starring Matthew Rhys as Fitzwilliam Darcy, Anna Maxwell Martin as Elizabeth Darcy, Jenna Coleman as Lydia Wickham and Matthew Goode as George Wickham. You can stream it now on Apple TV or Amazon Prime Video.

Originally a satirical newspaper column which was then made into a book, Bridget Jones’s Diary follows Bridget, a single woman in her 30s, as she chronicles her life and tackles the ups and downs of modern relationships. Read our complete guide to all four Bridget Jones books here.

Bridget Jones’s Diary was adapted into a series of films starring Renée Zellweger as Bridget, Hugh Grant as Daniel Cleaver and Colin Firth as Mark Darcy, with the most recent movie, Mad About the Boy, released in 2025. You can stream Mad About the Boy on Apple TV or Amazon Prime Video. The first three films are available to stream on Paramount+ and Binge.

Liz and Jane Bennet have returned to suburban Cincinnati to help their mother care for their father and to wrench their sisters from their various states of arrested development. Soon, their single status comes under fire. That is, until the Lucas family’s barbecue throws them in the way of some eligible single men.

An ordinary girl. A Hollywood star. Lily is looking forward to a summer at Pippi Beach … until superstar Dorian Khan arrives. He’s superficial and arrogant, but as Lily’s and Dorian’s paths cross, she begins to wonder if she’s got him all wrong.

Stuck Up and Stupid was a Reece’s Book Club YA Pick. You can read our interview with the mother-daughter writing duo here.

Chef Ashna Raje joins the cast of Cooking with the Stars in a bid to save her beloved restaurant, only to be paired with celebrity soccer star Rico Silva – her first love and the man who ghosted her. Every minute they spend together rekindles feelings that pull them toward their disastrous past.

This book is part of a series of Jane Austen retellings with other titles Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavours; Incense and Sensibility; and The Emma Project.

There’s never a good time to learn you are your father’s secret child. With Nora’s reputation in tatters, she and her free-spirited sister have nothing left but a rustic inn in the middle of nowhere that they need to revamp or they’ll lose it all. But local Native Abenaki eco-tour guide Ennis “Bear” Freeman doesn’t make it easy, even as he and Nora are drawn to one another.

This book is part of a series of Jane Austen retellings with another title, Pride and Protest.

A retelling of Pride and Prejudice from the perspective of the servants, in particular, a housemaid named Sarah who later becomes Elizabeth Bennet’s lady’s maid. Sarah has her own romance through the story, which stays true to the timeline of events in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Kamila Hussain is so busy with her friends’ love lives, she’s hardly given thought to her own. The only potential prospect is Rohan Nasser, a long-time friend of the family. But Kamila isn’t letting herself get distracted from the job she loves until her secret nemesis returns to town with an eye for Rohan.

Ayesha Shamsi has a lot going on. She might be a little lonely, but the last thing she wants is an arranged marriage. And then she meets Khalid.

Khalid’s sure his mother will find him a suitable bride, but he can’t get Ayesha out of his mind, even though they’re far too different to be a good match … aren’t they?

Uzma has also written a retelling of Persuasion, called Much Ado About Nada.

Fanny Price is an unwelcome guest at her uncle Sir Thomas Bertram’s estate. When Sir Thomas dies in a tragic accident, Fanny finds evidence of foul play. Her pursuit of justice has her brushing with London’s high society, and when Henry and Mary Crawford arrive at Mansfield Park with an audacious proposal, it brings Fanny more complications and a life-altering realisation about herself.

Manslaughter Park is the third book in Tirzah Price’s Jane Austen Murder Mystery series. The others are: Pride and Premeditation, Sense and Second-Degree Murder. Tirzah also has two Lizzie and Darcy Mysteries — In Want of a Suspect and A Matter of Murder — which are spin-offs best read after Pride and Premeditation.

Ania Khurana is beautiful, clever and in need of entertainment — so she becomes a matchmaker. But good intentions can go awry, and when a handsome suitor arrives from abroad, Ania discovers that even if you aim to please, things seldom go to plan.