Finding Mr Darcy (Amanda Hooton, Macmillan)

Jane Austen seems to have had a real renaissance lately; we have seen zombies and sea monsters invade her books, and had the books pulled apart to create guides to finding a man, marriage and happiness. Finding Mr Darcy is a little different to the other guides we’ve seen, and encourages the reader to get to know herself, to be the best version of herself, and then find a man. Amanda Hooton brings her trademark witty style and examples from friends and friends-of-friends to add to examples from Austen’s work. Finding Mr Darcy is written in a fantastic, chatty manner, which makes it seem like a conversation over tea and cream buns—or perhaps while walking among the shrubbery. It begins with a closer look at each of the Austen books, clarifying the Hero and the Heroine, and the plot. You don’t have to have read all of Austen’s books to relate to Finding Mr Darcy and you don’t have to be looking for Mr Right to have a laugh and enjoy it. Obviously, it’s aimed at ladies (anywhere from late teens upwards) who are single, but I think I’ll point my single male friends towards a few chapters (namely, ‘The Hero’, and ‘The Bastards’).

Jessica Broadbent is a former bookseller and trained librarian who likes to think of herself as Emma Woodhouse, but is probably more like Marianne Dashwood

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Category: Reviews