The Ladies of Norland

Twisted Austen #6

by Alexa Adams

A Sense and Sensibility reimagination. What if the elder Mr. Dashwood was more generous to his nephew, niece, and their daughters than Austen rendered him? Had they not been forced from Norland Park, would Elinor and Marianne still have achieved their happy endings? The Ladies of Norland is the sixth book in the Twisted Austen series, written in honor of Halloween. Join Alexa Adams as she explores Austen's timeless tales through an unconventional lens.

Genres: Romance

39 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2020

About the author

A devoted reader of Jane Austen since her childhood, Alexa Adams is the author of several Austenesque novels and short stories including Being, Mrs. Bennet, Darcy in Wonderland, The Madness of Mr. Darcy, and Tales of Less Pride and Prejudice. Alexa is an American residing in Switzerland with her husband, daughter, and son. She blogs about Austen and Austenesque literature at alexaadams.blogspot.com and a founding member of the Jane Austen Society of Switzerland.

Reviews

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beguiling authoress, Alexa Adams has enjoyed for several Halloween seasons warping our comfortable and familiar Austen stories so that the reader can experience a tingling sort of horror at the new outcome in a quick, deliciously revolting read. Her cold, conniving Jane Bennet, in Jane and Bingley: Something Slightly Unsettling, to a Mrs. Norris, in Becoming Mrs. Norris, who to be pitied left me properly aghast as the hair on my arms stood on end. For this latest effort, she revisits the Dashwood family in Sense and Sensibility to give us an alarming ‘what if’.

When the invalid owner of Norland passes away and leaves his estate into the hands of his nephew, niece, and their girls, he goes a step further to protect the female dependents and this is followed by Mr. Dashwood when he, too, passes on. Instead of being left bereft of father, home, and future income depended on the dubious honor of a selfish, grasping brother and sister in law, they are heiresses and the Misses Dashwood of Norland.
Naturally, Mrs. John Dashwood nee Ferrars is chagrined, but has not lost hope to fill her family’s coffers. She is determined to see her oldest brother, Edward, attached to the oldest Miss Dashwood and all seems to be going her way even as the Dashwood ladies including Elinor, Marianne, and their mother believe Edward all that is estimable and are happy to have him as a dear friend and possibly more. Felicities are on the tips of many tongues until…

Surely, you can guess, dear friends, that there must be a monstrous twist of fate or this could not be a Twisted Austen tale. I have enjoyed each of the tales from when they started out on the author’s blog in installments and eventually were published. I like the perverse pleasure of seeing some of the worst imaginings in story variations and appreciate the author’s delft hand in making them in the style that is strongly Austen-flavored in the process which gives it more possibility and suspense.

The Ladies of Norland mostly followed the oldest sister, Elinor’s story, though Marianne has her share. I thought the part of the Ferrars family was both comical and a good source of conflict. I did wish that once Edward’s secret was out that there had been some more details just as I wish that there had been more details of the very end when Elinor and Marianne made their choices. The ending felt more like a wisp of smoke that dissipated and drifted away rather than solidly finished. But, that said, the author doesn’t leave the reader in doubt of the conclusion- a conclusion that I found eminently satisfying for dear Elinor.

All in all, it was a quick and quirky delight that I can recommend to those who enjoy exploring a more bizarre variation path for Austen’s characters.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stumble upon this while searching for Sense and Sensibility Retellings. Author seems to have disappeared in 2023.

From her abandoned Blog "Welcome to Twisted Austen, my annual event conceived in the spirit of Halloween, but which really just serves to infuriate and confuse my fellow Janeites. That’s not being totally fair to myself. Some readers do actually seem to really like these stories, but I write them for my own amusement. It’s a space where I can explore ideas that really aren’t marketable."

A Sense and Sensibility with this the only mention of Colonel Brandon "who, despite having no interest in the couple beyond pity for the treatment they had endured, had given Edward the living attached to his estate of Delaford in Dorsetshire.'

Now that is a thing of horror.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

(1797) In this Sense and Sensibility variation what if the Henry Dashwoods family on his death are not required to leave Norland but Mrs Dashwood has a lifetime proprietary and the daughters a dowry. How will this affect their futures, and relationships with the Dashwoods and Ferrars.
An entertaining story

[Raissa Rivera Falgui · Rating 3 out of 5]

Captures the style of the novel if not the themes

I commend the author for her ability to emulate Miss Austen’s style in exposition, in which Sense and Sensibility abounds, though she is perhaps not as adept in producing sparkling dialog to provide relief from the long-winded telling rather showing of an engrossing domestic drama, nor her classic skill in slyly setting up a surprising twist. But then, it appears her intention is to show the superiority of the original by demonstrating the change in the most essential element, Miss Austen’s favored theme of the suffering of disadvantaged dependent ladies, would render a tale of characters who are in all aspects other than fortune the same, rather undramatic and unsatisfying. I will say, though, that it is unlikely that Elinor would behave in the manner she does at the end, despite being an heiress of good sense. I also think such natures that abound in a sensibility as Marianne’s and Willoughby’s would give us more exciting incidents to witness than a simple show of want of impropriety in their interactions. The book provides mild entertainment in reversing the situation with an outcome that is most interesting to analyze.