But Oliver can't bear the thought of such a fate. He finds solace in the few times he can sneak out of his family's home and explore the city rightfully dressed as a young gentleman. It's during one such excursion when Oliver becomes acquainted with Darcy, a sulky young man who had been rude to "Elizabeth" at a recent social function. But in the comfort of being out of the public eye, Oliver comes to find that Darcy is actually a sweet, intelligent boy with a warm heart. And not to mention incredibly attractive.
As Oliver is able to spend more time as his true self, often with Darcy, part of him dares begin to hope that his dream of love and life as a man could be possible. But suitors are growing bolder—and even threatening—and his mother is growing more desperate to see him settled into an engagement. Oliver will have to choose: settle for safety, security, and a life of pretending to be something he's not, or risk it all for a slim chance at freedom, love, and a life that can be truly, honestly his own.
You already know Jane Austen adaptations and remakes are my jam, especially if they're LGBTQ+. That the author is latino is also a bonus. I bought the ebook when it went on sale, and read it on my Europe trip a few weeks ago. I really liked this book. I liked all the OG P&P references, but Novoa played around with them in a way that felt interesting and fresh; I didn't always know what was going to happen, in other words. For some reason the characters are all aged down; Oliver is 17 instead of 20, so his sisters are all aged down the same amount. I'm not sure why; maybe it's to appeal more to teenagers? (This book is YA.) This makes marriage less urgent for the Bennet girls, although Mrs. Bennet is just as frantic, if not more, about getting the girls married as she is in the original book for some reason. I think Darcy is 17 or 18. Oliver is only out to Jane and Charlotte Lucas, who is a lesbian and has a girlfriend!!! Said girlfriend (an original character) is married for the stability and because people are less focused on/more trusting of married women; this theme of marriage = necessary stability for queer people is one that Charlotte believes in and lectures Oliver about. Obviously Oliver hates the idea of being a wife, because he is not a woman. He's not sure the stability of that life would be worth it.
There are many, many instances of Oliver feeling dysphoric and triggered by wearing female clothing and people treating him and talking about/to him like he's a girl. It makes sense that this would happen, as he has to live like his assigned gender at birth 99% of the time. Charlotte has his boy clothes stashed at her house, so he says he's going to hang out with Charlotte, walks to her house, changes into his male clothes, and spends time as his real self. He becomes friends with Bingley and Darcy as his real self, and of course clashes with Darcy as a "girl". There's one scene where Bingley & Darcy invite Oliver into a gentlemen's club (think Holmes and Wooster, not today's meaning) and I was so concerned for him because he just had his long hair tucked into a top hat so he wouldn't be able to take it off without outing himself, but apparently this was not an issue? I didn't think gentlemen were allowed to just wear top hats indoors. I like how Oliver and Darcy bond over books. There was an interesting element in the concept of molly houses (which I knew to be brothels with male sex workers) as gay clubs?? Not sure if this is true, but it makes sense queer people would hang out there to be safe/gay with each other.
SPOILERS thoughts, highlight to read: Wickham would so totally out Darcy for being gay. Because all the characters are aged down, Wickham doesn't groom Lydia into running off with him (although he does try it with Georgiana, who is the same age as in the book.) He sets his sights on Oliver instead. I thought it was kind of weird that Darcy is gay, Wickham and Oliver know he's gay, and Darcy likes reading books by/about gay men and hangs out at molly houses to do so, yet has a closeted gay freakout when he and Oliver kiss?? That makes little sense. I don't think Mr. Collins would actually think a trans son would be a legal threat to his inheritance. Oliver comes out to his dad and he's super accepting, which made me so happy :') The rest of his family accepts him too!
In all, I really liked this P&P retelling, and will have to read more from this author. I recommend it to people who like their classics retellings queer and to Austen fans who don't mind reading retellings that deviate from the original.
Score: ★★★★½ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 1 out of 5 chilies (kissing, sex mentions)
Read in: May 6
From: Barnes & Noble/Nook
Representation: gay trans man main character, cis gay man character, cis lesbian side characters
Trigger warnings: transphobia, dysphoria, homophobia, a character outs a queer character (to, unbeknownst to him, another queer character, but still), closeted trans and queer characters (period-typical), misgendering (usually unintentionally), lesbian characters in heterosexual marriages, an attempt is made to force a trans man character to marry and live as a woman, period-typical sexism, blackmail in the form of threatened outing. Gabe Cole Novoa has a list of trigger warnings in the beginning of the book
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