Molly Greeley's new book is The Clergyman's Wife: A Pride & Prejudice Novel.From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: Why did you decide to write a novel featuring Pride and Prejudice's Charlotte Lucas?Visit Molly Greeley's website.
A: I've always been fascinated by Charlotte.
More than 20 years ago, when I first read Pride and Prejudice, I was as repulsed as Elizabeth Bennet was by Charlotte's decision to marry Mr. Collins.
But re-reading the book several times over the course of many years, I started to wonder whether Charlotte was as sanguine as she seemed; we do, after all, get her story mostly filtered through Lizzy's (demonstrably unreliable) point of view.
And the more I wondered, the more Charlotte's story stuck in my head as one that was worth telling; it says so much about women's perceived worth, as well as how incredibly...[read on]
--Marshal Zeringue