The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch - Melinda Taub

I didn't mean to take such a long break but I lost wifi for a few days and then went to stay with mum, who has working wifi, but I forgot my laptop (and to bring a sample half dozen of the best sausages you could ever find - sold on Leicester market by a very nice butcher). We've been celebrating her 75th birthday. 

For my own sanity, I've not been paying much attention to what's happening in America and I'm very close to deleting twitter/x - the stumbling block is that I'm in charge of the work account so can't completely ignore it. This is part of a more general quandary regarding social media. Facebook is annoying but it's still the best way to keep in touch with older family members. I mostly like Insta but the adverts and rubbish are becoming overwhelming and the ethics of all of it are questionable. And yet, it's all such a part of modern life that cutting any of it off feels as difficult as getting rid of online banking, I would manage but it would be massively more complicated. 

All of this is feeding into a desire to read books that are essentially comforting. Lydia Bennet, Witch fitted the bill nicely. I do not as a rule like it when people mess around with Jane Austen, but this was very much the exception that worked for me. Melinda Taub obviously knows her Austen, she captures Lydias's voice perfectly - or maybe more precisely I could hear Julia Sawalha's voice from the 90s Pride and Prejudice, but I'll take it. 

The combination of affection for and knowledge of Austen along with taking minor characters and giving them a whole other magical life is a winning one in this instance. So is the minimum of smut - there's a smidgen of romance between Lydia and Whickham - a literal demon here, and Kitty who is really a cat, and Denny - but it's very much the sweet kind rather than the explicit kind. 

Picking out the bits that are Austen from the bits that are not is fun, there are a number of side characters from P&P plus one from Sanditon. There's enough consideration of slavery and women's position in society to give the plot a bit of weight, and Taub thinks Mr Bennet is a terrible father, on which point she's absolutely correct. 

This won't be for everyone, but if you like a little fantasy in the mix it's a good time.