German-language S&S retelling
Alert AustenBlog Reader Carolin writes to tell us about a book called Miss Lucy Steele by Ruth Berger. The book is Lucy’s story told from her perspective. At present it has only been released in Germany and is not available in English.
Carolin was kind enough to translate the blurb from the publisher’s site into English for us:
Southern England at the end of the 18th century: War rages before the coasts, the situation for Thomas Steele’s family -a naval officer- seems just as black. The shabby room in the attic is not in keeping with their station, every piece of cloth has been mended dozens of times, but money is lacking. Hence, the leader of the household keeps mourning on his divan for one of his legs lost on the wild sea, while Mrs Steele is secretly drinking rum. But their greatest worry lies with their daughters - especially with the elder, who desires nothing more than to elope with one of her suitors. Lucy, the younger one, is more sensible, but lacks social refinement. Hope arises when Lucy falls in love with one of her uncle’s students. The young Edward Ferrars, who comes from a good family, is enraptured by the beautiful girl. Unfortunately, Edward has a younger brother who, as well as his conceited mother, is trying to intervene with the marriage plans. In addition to this, a certain Elinor Dashwood appears on the scene, a young woman, clearly following her own aspirations. From there on, readers of “Sense and Sensibility” will be familiar with the story, even though it is told from an unusual perspective.
We hope that one of our German-speaking readers can send in a review, or that it is published in English soon. Thank you for writing, Carolin!
April 6th, 2005 at 1:50 am
Ruth Berger informed us per mail about her book. But till now no one of us read it. It was not advertised as a Jane Austen sequel, because the german publisher means, that would be no advertising for it. How dull people can be. I told her, that is not right, because all JA sequels are rare in german, how bad they ever are (Emma Tennants and Joan Aikens are the only sequels to buy in german) So may be, the publisher changed his mind and advertises now with Jane Austen.
I’m actually no fan of sequels, because it’s impossible to wright like Jane Austen. So I was never complet satisfied with the sequels I read. And I don’t know if I will ever change my mind and read Ruth Bergers book.
April 22nd, 2005 at 2:46 am
[...] Rose Martin wrote to send us a review of Miss Lucy Steele by Ruth Berger, about which we posted previously. “Miss Lucy Steele”, the n [...]