Colonel Brandon’s Diary by Amanda Grange
Review by Mirah Welday (mwelday)
I love Jane Austen’s novels. I have read each one more than once and I wish there were more. I am forced to go to Austen retellings and continuations by other authors. Amanda Grange has a series of novels that provide retellings from the heroes’ points of view. I recently picked up Colonel Brandon’s Diary from one of my (too many?) ‘To Read’ bookshelves.
What I enjoyed about this book is I think it made Colonel Brandon more relatable. In Sense and Sensibility he seems so serious and hard to get to know at times. This novel sheds some light on his possible thoughts and reasons for his actions. Grange presents a Brandon with a gentle, caring spirit, which I think we see in Austen’s novel but not to this extent.
Robbed of happiness in love at a young age, Brandon thinks he is destined to be alone until his path crosses with that of Marianne Dashwood. Brandon continues to try to right the wrongs of the past and make up for things he think went wrong because of his decisions (or indecision).
While I don’t think Grange’s novel possesses the depth of Austen’s novels, I think Grange does pay good homage to the characters and the spirit of Austen’s novels. I think this novel series of heroes’ diaries is a fun way to revisit some favorite Austen characters. I have also read Captain Wentworth’s Diary and Mr. Knightley’s Diary from Grange’s diary series and I liked Colonel Brandon’s Diary the best of the three. If you’re a fellow Austenite, you may want to give this series a try.
Tags: book recommendation, book review, Book Suggestions, Fiction Series, historical fiction
