Novoa, Gabe Cole. Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix. New York: Feiwel & Friends, 2024.
ISBN-13: 978-1250869807 | $19.99 USD | 320 pages | Regency Romance
Blurb
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.
Review
4 stars
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
At long last, Remixed Classics takes on Jane Austen, with Gabe Cole Novoa’s compassionate trans-inclusive remix, Most Ardently. While the series can be hit-or-miss when it comes to authors who don’t have a background in writing historicals, Novoa was actually a great choice here, with a clear understanding of the nuances of the Regency era, and especially its queer culture, and combining that with a subversive reimagining of arguably one of the most retold works of fiction.
Elizabeth Bennet being reimagined as Oliver is beautiful, and I loved the care with which this was rendered. From the start, with the note that some people in the story will misgender and deadname him, but he’s consistently referred to by his prefered name and pronouns by the text itself was a solid compromise, highlighting the transphobia of the era, while showing that trans people have always existed, and affirmation for them back then wouldn’t have looked too different from what it looks like today. And while I’m pretty well-read on the nuances of the era, even I didn’t know that birth certificates did not exist in the Regency (although that does check out, given how poorly records were kept of births of common people in times past), thus presenting the possibility that, with the support of a compassionate physician to vouch for them and family supporting them, trans people could indeed “pass,” perhaps many more than we’re even aware of.
Oliver’s identity also adds some interesting nuances to his relationship with Darcy. While Darcy is still very socially awkward in his initial encounters with Oliver when he’s presenting as “Elizabeth” in public, I love the addition of scenes between them in a Molly house, highlighting how both of them act with their guards down. And while I feel like it was a missed opportunity to not have Darcy have some sort of inkling as to Oliver’s secret, given he does still ask “Elizabeth” to marry him, there’s still a plausible reasoning given, albeit one tinged with irony.
The supporting cast is also beautifully reimagined as well. Jane being a supportive ally is only to be expected, given the two eldest Bennet siblings are thick as thieves in just about every incarnation, although I did feel her relationship with Bingley got sidelined for the sake of time, with Bingley not even really appearing after his untimely disappearance…which sucks, since early scenes really built up the possibility of a friendship between him and Oliver, while exploring the tension between Oliver and Darcy. On a similar note, the younger Bennet sisters are basically nonexistent in this book…Mary and Kitty were already pretty irrelevant, but with the ending changed, Lydia is also similarly boring. But thank God no one marries that awful Wickham…it’s just a shame Charlotte’s still tied to Collins.
However, I did like how Mr. and Mrs. Bennet were written. Mr. Bennet, being disposed to favor his second-eldest child to begin with, has a lovely relationship with Oliver, and I really appreciated his compassion when Oliver came out to him, especially in wanting to take his time to tell his mother. While Oliver’s transness is kept secret from Mrs. Bennet for most of the book, and I feared the worst due to her marriage-minded nature, she surprised me by proving to be incredibly open-minded and accepting, with her affirmation being particularly heartrending.
This is a beautiful reimagining, balancing a largely beat-for-beat rendering of Pride and Prejudice with the story of a trans boy’s coming-out and coming into his own in the face of immense societal prejudice and obstacles. If you’re a fan of the original, but are interested in a version that is more explicitly queer, I’d recommend checking this out!
Author Bio
Gabe Cole Novoa (he/him) is a Latinx transmasculine author who writes speculative fiction featuring marginalized characters grappling with identity. Now leveled up with an MFA in Writing for Children, when he isn’t being nerdy at his day job, or buried under his TBR pile, you’ll likely find him making heart-eyes at the latest snazzy outfit he wants to add to his wardrobe. Gabe is the author of The Wicked Bargain and the Beyond the Red trilogy, written under a former pseudonym. He also runs a popular writing-focused YouTube channel, bookishpixie and is very active on Twitter.
Buy links
Porter Square Books (signed copies)
Courtney Reads Romance 