On January 16, 2024, Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice will get another retelling, this time from a queer lens. Centering the story on experiences within the trans community, while still keeping to the original story’s time period and overarching plot points, allows readers to see these characters in an entirely new way.
Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Gabe Cole Novoa is part of the Remixed Classics series, a series of books that look at classic novels from a more marginalized perspective. Novoa is also the author of The Wicked Bargain, which was released in February 2023.
It is 1812, London, and Oliver Bennet has finally found a way to be freely who he’s always meant to be. By going out at night and frequenting a known queer establishment, he has found that the man he met in a public social situation, as “Elizabeth”, Mr. Darcy is actually gay.
The two find a way to navigate social pressures, anti-gay/trans laws, and their families in order to find the happiness they have always deserved.
Check out the promo video below for a preview!
Book Synopsis: In the Remixed Classics series, authors from marginalized backgrounds reinterpret classic works through their own cultural lens to subvert the overwhelming cishet, white, and male canon. This bittersweet Pride & Prejudice remix follows a trans boy yearning for the freedom to live openly, centering queerness in a well-known story of longing and subverting society’s patriarchal and cisheteronormative expectations.
London, 1812. Oliver Bennet feels trapped. Not just by the endless corsets, petticoats, and skirts he’s forced to wear on a daily basis, but also by society’s expectations. The world―and the vast majority of his family and friends―think Oliver is a girl named Elizabeth. He is therefore expected to mingle at balls wearing a pretty dress, entertain suitors regardless of his interest in them, and ultimately become someone’s wife.
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.
Promo Image:
Promo video:
@thegabecole it’s here! the glorious cover for MOST ARDENTLY, my trans mlm PRIDE AND PREJUDICE retelling! this gorgeous cover is illustrated by the incredible @marlowelune and designed by the amazing Samira Iravani! MOST ARDENTLY will be out 1/16/24 and you can preorder now at major retailers and independent bookstores! #booktok #transbooks #queerbooktok #yabooks #yabooktok ♬ The Four Seasons, Concerto No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 8, RV 297 “Winter”: I. Allegro non molto – Antonio Vivaldi
Are you excited for Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below
Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Gabe Cole Novoa releases January 16th. It can be found wherever books are sold.
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Mads Misasi
Mads is a part-time entertainment journalist and full-time marketing content creator. They love reading the latest in Queer novels -- especially romance ones and watching the latest dramas, sci-fi/fantasy, Star Wars, and romcom films/TV shows. You can join the conversation by following them on Twitter: @dorothynyc89.
