Back to the Bonnet by Jennifer Duke - Review

Earlier this week I posted about a fund raising appeal that author Jennifer Duke is running in order to have her Pride & Prejudice-inspired time travel book Back to the Bonnet converted to audio format. 

Back to the Bonnet is written from Mary Bennet’s point of view because she is the time traveller (most of the time). Mary uses a bonnet with mysterious powers to go back in time and is therefore able to undo some unfortunate events. You can read the previous post here and I’d recommend that you do, as it has an alternate take on the Netherfield ball which Mary has to undo.

I’ve been meaning to read the book since it came out and Jennifer’s fund raising appeal gave me a nudge to read it. Let’s look at the blurb and then I’ll share my review with you. 

Book Description

Matrimony is not a destiny that attracts plain but clever Miss Mary Bennet.

With her family’s fortunes threatened by their own foolish mistakes, deceptive rogues and the inconvenience of male heirs to her family home, the future looks unstable, even bleak. But Mary possesses a secret weapon . . . a bonnet that allows her to travel in time.

In orchestrating events according to her own inclinations, Mary takes an unconventional route to protect her family from ruin. However, she is unprepared for the dark path down which duty and power will lead her.

Back to the Bonnet by Jennifer Duke – My Review

Back to the Bonnet is a story where Mary Bennet inherits her great-aunt’s bonnet. It’s old and out of fashion… and just so happens to allow for time travel. By undoing stitches you can reverse hours meaning that Mary can have a re-do of events with unfortunate outcomes.

Fortunately for Mrs Bennet, although unbeknown to her, Mary is just as aware of the Bennet women’s precarious financial situation and just as anxious to secure their future as their mama. At least one of the Bennet sisters will need to marry well and preferably more. Mary is keen to get this settled as soon as possible, as she has no wish to marry herself.

I am not a huge fan of time travel in general, as I sometimes find it a bit confusing when you need to consider alternate timelines etc, but this is very straightforward and linear – undo the stitches, don bonnet and then the wearer arrives earlier in time. The bonnet also allows the wearer to listen in on conversations held within earshot of other pieces of headwear, so for example if Mary wanted to listen in on one of her sisters walking with somebody she could, as they would be wearing their bonnet. Later, Mary also discovers that the bonnet can help her physically travel to different locations.

At the beginning of this story Netherfield Park is let at last, by a young man named Mr Thorpe. He’s a bit of a braggart but seems keen on Kitty, so Mary is happy about that… until she realises that he isn’t what he seems. After a couple of false starts Mary manages to bring Netherfield Park to the notice of a Mr Bingley so that part of canon is back on track. Mary and her bonnet turn out to be responsible for a lot of the events of Pride & Prejudice in this story.  

I am always interested to see an author’s take on Mary, as she is quite lightly-sketched in P&P. This Mary is very matter of fact and unromantic, which canon Mary may well have been. She is definitely portrayed as less pious; some of her behaviour crosses the line in ways which the reader can understand and approve of and some of her behaviour is genuinely quite shocking. I couldn’t see Mary carrying out some of the actions depicted in the story.

Mary made a few friends due to her time travel – I enjoyed these interactions, which included the depiction of a gay character who I had a lot of sympathy for. I was glad to see Mary display humanity rather than the judgement we might have expected from her. In fact, practical Mary’s harshest judgements are reserved for sisters who don’t consider the family’s fortune as being their highest priority. If only Mrs Bennet knew that Mary was so firmly on her side!

In summary I enjoyed this read. I thought it was ingenious how the story that we are familiar with was depicted as shaped by Mary and her use of the bonnet. I liked how she was an outsider, but had partial insight into happenings that readers of P&P would already be aware of, and also have additional information that her sisters would never be aware of. I enjoyed the secondary characters too.

I had some quibbles about some of the morality of Mary’s decision making, and some doubts about the achievability of some of the travelling in the early part of the book, which Mary has to physically travel before she realises that the bonnet can help her. However, it’s a very entertaining read and I’d recommend it. Think of all the times in your life you would have done or said something a bit outrageous if you could have undone events! I would rate this as a 4 star read.

Buy Links

Back to the Bonnet is available to buy in Paperback, Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.   

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon Canada  / Amazon Australia / Add to Goodreads shelf

As mentioned above, Jennifer is fundraising to try and make an audiobook of this book a reality, narrated by Lucy Briars, who played Mary in the 1995 BBC adaptation! If you would like to donate please see Jennifer’s Go Fund Me page. 

Note about comments:  If you have any problems adding your comment please contact me and I will add your comment for you :)

* * *

If you don’t want to miss any of my future posts, please subscribe

Subscribe to Babblings of a Bookworm

If you'd like to be friends on Goodreads then please invite me - just say that you visit my blog when it asks why you'd like to be friends with me.