40 Best Jane Austen-Inspired Books & Retellings


books based on jane austen retellings austen inspired novels

I love Jane Austen, and many writers have have penned retellings of her works or books inspired by hers that are delightful as well.

Emma is probably my favorite Austen novel (#TeamKnightly), so I was recently watching the new adaptation of Emma and thought it’d be fun to come up with a list of the best book & novel retellings of Jane Austen.

The list is below, but if you have any additional suggestions of your favorite retellings or Austen-inspired books, please drop me note!


General Jane Austen-Inspired Books / Retellings
Pride and Prejudice-Inspired Books / Retellings
Sense & Sensibility-Inspired Books / Retellings
Persuasion-Inspired Books / Retellings
Other Retellings
Jane Austen Non-Fiction

P.S. For more retellings, see the list of Best Retellings of Classic Books.


General Jane Austen-Inspired Books / Retellings

The Jane Austen Book Club
Karen Joy Fowler

What It's About: The Extraordinary New York Times Bestseller In California's central valley, five women and one man join to discuss Jane Austen's novels. Over the six months they get together, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens. With her eye for the frailties of human behavior and her ear for the absurdities of social intercourse, Karen Joy Fowler has never been wittier nor her characters more appealing...

Publication Date: April 22, 2004
  
chick lit romance books i own


The Jane Austen Society
Natalie Jenner

What It's About: 2020 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Historical Fiction and for Debut Novel!

Just after the Second World War, in the small English village of Chawton, an unusual but like-minded group of people band together to attempt something remarkable.

One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England's finest novelists...

Publication Date: May 26, 2020
  
historical fiction audiobook historical


The Jane Austen Project
Kathleen A. Flynn

What It's About: Perfect for fans of Jane Austen, this engrossing debut novel offers an unusual twist on the legacy of one of the world's most celebrated and beloved authors: two researchers from the future are sent back in time to meet Jane and recover a suspected unpublished novel.

London, 1815: Two travelers—Rachel Katzman and Liam Finucane—arrive in a field in rural England, disheveled and weighed down with hidden money...

Publication Date: May 2, 2017
  
historical fiction time travel science fiction


Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict (Jane Austen Addict #1)
Laurie Viera Rigler

What It's About: In this Jane Austen inspired comedy, love story, and exploration of identity and destiny, a modern LA girl wakes up as an Englishwoman in Austen's time.

After nursing a broken engagement with Jane Austen novels and Absolut, Courtney Stone wakes up and finds herself not in her Los Angeles bedroom or even in her own body, but inside the bedchamber of a woman in Regency England...

Publication Date: January 1, 2007
  
chick lit romance historical fiction


The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen
Syrie James

What It's About: Many rumors abound about a mysterious gentleman said to be the love of Jane's life—finally, the truth may have been found... What if, hidden in an old attic chest, Jane Austen's memoirs were discovered after hundreds of years? What if those pages revealed the untold story of a life-changing love affair? That's the premise behind this spellbinding novel, which delves into the secrets of Jane Austen's life, giving us untold insights into her mind and heart...

Publication Date: October 1, 2007
  
jane austen romance books i own


First Impressions: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen
Charlie Lovett

What It's About: A thrilling literary mystery co-starring Jane Austen from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bookman’s Tale

Charlie Lovett first delighted readers with his New York Times bestselling debut, The Bookman’s Tale. Now, Lovett weaves another brilliantly imagined mystery featuring one of English literature’s most popular and beloved authors: Jane Austen...

Publication Date: October 16, 2014
  
historical fiction mystery books about books


Jane Austen Made Me Do It: Original Stories Inspired by Literature's Most Astute Observer of the Human Heart
Adriana Trigiani

What It's About:

Publication Date: October 11, 2011
  
short stories jane austen historical fiction


Jane Austen Ruined My Life
Beth Pattillo

What It's About:

Publication Date: February 1, 2009
  
chick lit romance jane austen


Miss Austen
Gill Hornby

What It's About: Whoever looked at an elderly lady and saw the young heroine she once was?

England, 1840. For the two decades following the death of her beloved sister, Jane, Cassandra Austen has lived alone, spending her days visiting friends and relations and quietly, purposefully working to preserve her sister’s reputation...

Publication Date: January 23, 2020
  
historical fiction jane austen historical


Dear Mr. Knightley
Katherine Reay

What It's About: Dear Mr. Knightley is a contemporary epistolary novel with a delightful dash of Jane Austen.

Samantha Moore survived years of darkness in the foster care system by hiding behind her favorite characters in literature, even adopting their very words. Her fictional friends give her an identity, albeit a borrowed one...

Publication Date: November 5, 2013
  
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Lizzy and Jane
Katherine Reay

What It's About: Lizzy and Jane never saw eye to eye. But when illness brings them together, they discover they may be more like Austen’s famous sisters after all.

Lizzy was only a teenager when her mother died of cancer. Shortly after, Lizzy fled from her home, her family, and her cherished nickname. After working tirelessly to hone her gift of creating magic in the kitchen, Elizabeth has climbed the culinary ladder to become the head chef of her own New York restaurant, Feast...

Publication Date: October 1, 2014
  
romance christian fiction contemporary


The Austen Escape
Katherine Reay

What It's About: After years of following her best friend’s lead, Mary Davies finds a whimsical trip back to Austen’s Regency England paves the way towards a new future.

Mary Davies lives and works in Austin, Texas, as an industrial engineer. She has an orderly and productive life, a job and colleagues that she enjoys—particularly a certain adorable, intelligent, and hilarious consultant...

Publication Date: November 7, 2017
  
romance contemporary chick lit


The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen
Syrie James

What It's About: The minute I saw the letter, I knew it was hers. There was no mistaking it: the salutation, the tiny, precise handwriting, the date, the content itself, all confirmed its ancient status and authorship…

Samantha McDonough cannot believe her eyes--or her luck. Tucked in an uncut page of a two-hundred-year old poetry book is a letter she believes was written by Jane Austen, mentioning with regret a manuscript that "went missing at Greenbriar in Devonshire...

Publication Date: December 1, 2012
  
jane austen romance books i own

Pride and Prejudice-Inspired Books / Retellings

Bridget Jones's Diary
Helen Fielding

What It's About: Meet Bridget Jones —a 30-something Singleton who is certain she would have all the answers if she could:
a. lose 7 pounds
b. stop smoking
c. develop Inner Poise

"129 lbs. (how is it possible to put on 4 pounds in the middle of the night? Could flesh have somehow solidified becoming denser and heavier? Repulsive, horrifying notion), alcohol units 4 (excellent), cigarettes 21 (poor but will give up totally tomorrow), number of correct lottery numbers 2 (better, but nevertheless useless)...

Publication Date: June 1, 1999
  
chick lit romance humor


Death Comes to Pemberley
P.D. James

What It's About: A rare meeting of literary genius: P. D. James, long among the most admired mystery writers of our time, draws the characters of Jane Austen’s beloved novel Pride and Prejudice into a tale of murder and emotional mayhem.

It is 1803, six years since Elizabeth and Darcy embarked on their life together at Pemberley, Darcy’s magnificent estate...

Publication Date: November 3, 2011
  
historical fiction historical crime


The Other Bennet Sister
Janice Hadlow

What It's About: Mary, the bookish ugly duckling of Pride and Prejudice’s five Bennet sisters, emerges from the shadows and transforms into a desired woman with choices of her own.

What if Mary Bennet’s life took a different path from that laid out for her in Pride and Prejudice? What if the frustrated intellectual of the Bennet family, the marginalized middle daughter, the plain girl who takes refuge in her books, eventually found the fulfillment enjoyed by her prettier, more confident sisters? This is the plot of The Other Bennet Sister, a debut novel with exactly the affection and authority to satisfy Austen fans...

Publication Date: January 9, 2020
  
historical fiction romance historical


Pride
Ibi Zoboi

What It's About: Pride and Prejudice gets remixed in this smart, funny, gorgeous retelling of the classic, starring all characters of color, from Ibi Zoboi, National Book Award finalist and author of American Street.

Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable...

Publication Date: September 18, 2018
  
romance contemporary retellings


Ayesha at Last
Uzma Jalaluddin

What It's About: A modern-day Muslim Pride and Prejudice for a new generation of love.

Ayesha Shamsi has a lot going on. Her dreams of being a poet have been set aside for a teaching job so she can pay off her debts to her wealthy uncle. She lives with her boisterous Muslim family and is always being reminded that her flighty younger cousin, Hafsa, is close to rejecting her one hundredth marriage proposal...

Publication Date: June 12, 2018
  
contemporary retellings contemporary romance


Unmarriageable
Soniah Kamal

What It's About: Alys Binat has found happiness teaching English literature to schoolgirls. Although she knows that many of her students won't finish their education before dropping out to marry, Alys still hopes to inspire them to dream of more than what's expected. When an invitation arrives for the biggest wedding their town has seen in years, Mrs Binat excitedly prepares her five unmarried daughters to hunt for prospective husbands...

Publication Date: January 15, 2019
  
romance retellings contemporary


Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors (The Rajes #1)
Sonali Dev

What It's About: Award-winning author Sonali Dev launches a new series about the Rajes, an immigrant Indian family descended from royalty, who have built their lives in San Francisco...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that only in an overachieving Indian American family can a genius daughter be considered a black sheep...

Publication Date: May 7, 2019
  
romance contemporary retellings


Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride & Prejudice (The Austen Project #4)
Curtis Sittenfeld

What It's About: This version of the Bennet family and Mr. Darcy is one that you have and haven't met before: Liz is a magazine writer in her late thirties who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City. When their father has a health scare, they return to their childhood home in Cincinnati to help and discover that the sprawling Tudor they grew up in is crumbling and the family is in disarray...

Publication Date: April 19, 2016
  
romance chick lit contemporary


Longbourn
Jo Baker

What It's About: 'If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats,' Sarah thought, 'she would be more careful not to tramp through muddy fields.'

It is wash-day for the housemaids at Longbourn House, and Sarah's hands are chapped and raw. Domestic life below stairs, ruled with a tender heart and an iron will by Mrs Hill the housekeeper, is about to be disturbed by the arrival of a new footman, bearing secrets and the scent of the sea.

Publication Date: October 8, 2013
  
historical fiction historical romance


Mr. Darcy's Diary (Jane Austen Heroes #1)
Amanda Grange

What It's About: Monday 9th September
""I left London today and met Bingley at Netherfield Park. I had forgotten what good company he is; always ready to be pleased and always cheerful. After my difficult summer, it is good to be with him again. ...""

The only place Darcy could share his innermost feelings was in the private pages of his diary...

Publication Date: August 31, 2005
  
romance historical fiction jane austen


An Assembly Such as This (Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman #1)
Pamela Aidan

What It's About: "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me."

So begins the timeless romance of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen's classic novel is beloved by millions, but little is revealed in the book about the mysterious and handsome hero, Mr. Darcy...

Publication Date: August 1, 2003
  
historical fiction romance jane austen


Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues
Linda Berdoll

What It's About: Every woman wants to be Elizabeth Bennet Darcy-beautiful, gracious, universally admired, strong, daring and outspoken-a thoroughly modern woman in crinolines.

And every woman will fall madly in love with Mr. Darcy-tall, dark and handsome, a nobleman and a heartthrob whose virility is matched only by his utter devotion to his wife...

Publication Date: October 15, 1999
  
romance historical fiction historical romance


Austenland (Austenland, #1)
Shannon Hale

What It's About: Jane is a young New York woman who can never seem to find the right man-perhaps because of her secret obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of "Pride and Predjudice." When a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-obsessed women, however, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become more real than she ever could have imagined...

Publication Date: May 29, 2007
  
chick lit contemporary adult


The New Illustrated Darcy's Story
Janet Aylmer

What It's About: When Elizabeth Bennet first met Mr. Darcy, she found him proud, distant, and rude—despite the other ladies' admiration of his estate in Derbyshire and ten thousand pounds a year. But what was Mr. Darcy thinking?Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice has long stood among the most beloved novels of all time...

Publication Date: May 1, 2015
  
romance jane austen books i own


Prom & Prejudice
Elizabeth Eulberg

What It's About: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single girl of high standing at Longbourn Academy must be in want of a prom date.

After winter break, the girls at the very prestigious Longbourn Academy become obsessed with the prom. Lizzie Bennet, who attends Longbourn on a scholarship, isn't interested in designer dresses and expensive shoes, but her best friend, Jane, might be - especially now that Charles Bingley is back from a semester in London...

Publication Date: January 4, 2011
  
romance contemporary retellings


First & Then
Emma Mills

What It's About: Devon Tennyson wouldn't change a thing. She's happy watching Friday night games from the bleachers, silently crushing on best friend Cas, and blissfully ignoring the future after high school. But the universe has other plans. It delivers Devon's cousin Foster, an unrepentant social outlier with a surprising talent for football, and the obnoxiously superior and maddeningly attractive star running back, Ezra, right where she doesn't want them: first into her P...

Publication Date: October 13, 2015
  
contemporary romance books i own


Mr. Darcy and the Secret of Becoming a Gentleman
Maria Hamilton

What It's About: When Elizabeth Bennet refuses his hand, Darcy is devastated and makes it his mission to change. By every civility in his power, Darcy slowly tries to win her affections, but Elizabeth is not easily swayed. Darcy vows to unlock the secrets that will make her his. He curses himself for his social awkwardness and appearance of pride, and sets out to right the wrongs he's done her family...

Publication Date: May 1, 2011
  
jane austen historical fiction jaff


The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet
Bernie Su

What It's About: Based on the Emmy Award–winning YouTube series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

Twenty‑four‑year‑old grad student Lizzie Bennet is saddled with student loan debt and still living at home along with her two sisters—beautiful Jane and reckless Lydia. When she records her reflections on life for her thesis project and posts them on YouTube, she has no idea The Lizzie Bennet Diaries will soon take on a life of their own, turning the Bennet sisters into internet celebrities seemingly overnight...

Publication Date: June 24, 2014
  
contemporary young adult retellings


Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Jane Austen

What It's About: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.”

So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr...

Publication Date: April 1, 2009
  
horror fantasy zombies


Pride and Premeditation (Jane Austen Murder Mystery #1)
Tirzah Price

What It's About: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young woman who desires a law career must be in want of a case. So when sixteen year old Lizzie Bennet hears about a scandalous society murder, she sees an opportunity to prove herself as a solicitor by solving the case and ensuring justice is served.

Except the man accused of the crime already has a lawyer on his side: Mr...

Publication Date: April 6, 2021
  
mystery historical fiction young adult

Sense & Sensibility-Inspired Books / Retellings

Sense & Sensibility (The Austen Project #1)
Joanna Trollope

What It's About: John Dashwood promised his dying father that he would take care of his half sisters. But his wife, Fanny, has no desire to share their newly inherited estate with Belle Dashwood's daughters. When she descends upon Norland Park with her Romanian nanny and her mood boards, the three Dashwood girls—Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret—are suddenly faced with the cruelties of life without their father, their home, or their money...

Publication Date: January 1, 2013
  
romance chick lit jane austen


Jane of Austin: A Novel of Sweet Tea and Sensibility
Hillary Manton Lodge

What It's About: “Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience - or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope.”―Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

Just a few years after their father’s business scandal shatters their lives, Jane and Celia Woodward find themselves forced out of their San Francisco tea shop...

Publication Date: June 13, 2017
  
romance contemporary jane austen


Suspense and Sensibility: Or, First Impressions Revisited (Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mysteries #2)
Carrie Bebris

What It's About:

Publication Date: February 1, 2005
  
historical fiction jane austen mysteries

Persuasion-Inspired Books / Retellings

Persuading Annie
Melissa Nathan

What It's About: After years as a sweet, good-natured pushover, Annie Markham has had to face up to three hard truths:


You've got to be tough to succeed in business and romance.
Sometimes your meddling loved ones are right about your worthless, no-good boyfriend being worthless and no good.
The only reliable thing about men is that they're totally unreliable...

Publication Date: January 1, 2000
  
romance jane austen chicklit


Recipe for Persuasion (The Rajes #2)
Sonali Dev

What It's About: From the author of Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors comes another , clever, deeply layered, and heartwarming romantic comedy that follows in the Jane Austen tradition—this time, with a twist on Persuasion.

Chef Ashna Raje desperately needs a new strategy. How else can she save her beloved restaurant and prove to her estranged, overachieving mother that she isn’t a complete screw up? When she’s asked to join the cast of Cooking with the Stars, the latest hit reality show teaming chefs with celebrities, it seems like just the leap of faith she needs to put her restaurant back on the map...

Publication Date: May 26, 2020
  
contemporary audiobook contemporary romance


For Darkness Shows the Stars
Diana Peterfreund

What It's About: It's been several generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family's estate over love...

Publication Date: June 12, 2012
  
dystopian romance sci fi


Jane Austen in Scarsdale: Or Love, Death, and the SATs
Paula Marantz Cohen

What It's About:

Publication Date: January 1, 2006
  
jane austen romance austen

Other Retellings

Emma (The Austen Project #3)
Alexander McCall Smith

What It's About: The summer after she graduates from university, Emma Woodhouse returns home to the village of Highbury, where she will live with her health-conscious father until she is ready to launch her interior-design business and strike out on her own. In the meantime, she will do what she does best: offer guidance to those less wise than she is in the ways of the world...

Publication Date: November 6, 2014
  
romance contemporary jane austen


Northanger Abbey (The Austen Project #2)
Val McDermid

What It's About: Internationally best-selling crime writer Val McDermid has riveted millions of readers worldwide with her acutely suspenseful, psychologically complex, seamlessly plotted thrillers. In Northanger Abbey, she delivers her own, witty, updated take on Austen’s classic novel about a young woman whose visit to the stately home of a well-to-do acquaintance stirs her most macabre imaginings, with an extra frisson of suspense that only McDermid could provide...

Publication Date: March 10, 2014
  
romance contemporary jane austen

Jane Austen Non-Fiction

Becoming Jane Austen
Jon Spence

What It's About:

Publication Date: May 23, 2003
  
non fiction jane austen books i own


What Matters in Jane Austen?: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved
John Mullan

What It's About: Which important Austen characters never speak? Is there any sex in Austen? What do the characters call one another, and why? What are the right and wrong ways to propose marriage? In What Matters in Jane Austen?, John Mullan shows that we can best appreciate Austen's brilliance by looking at the intriguing quirks and intricacies of her fiction...

Publication Date: June 7, 2012
  
jane austen books about books history


Jane Austen at Home
Lucy Worsley

What It's About: Take a trip back to Jane Austen's world and the many places she lived as historian Lucy Worsley visits Austen's childhood home, her schools, her holiday accommodations, the houses--both grand and small--of the relations upon whom she was dependent, and the home she shared with her mother and sister towards the end of her life...

Publication Date: May 18, 2017
  
non fiction biography history


A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter
William Deresiewicz

What It's About: Before Jane Austen, William Deresiewicz was a very different young man. A sullen and arrogant graduate student, he never thought Austen would have anything to offer him. Then he read Emma—and everything changed.

In this unique and lyrical book, Deresiewicz weaves the misadventures of Austen’s characters with his own youthful follies, demonstrating the power of the great novelist’s teachings—and how, for Austen, growing up and making mistakes are one and the same...

Publication Date: April 28, 2011
  
memoir jane austen books about books

books based on jane austen retellings austen inspired novels

books based on jane austen retellings austen inspired novels

books based on jane austen retellings austen inspired novels

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