I was even more excited to read Eligible after a friend told me that my employer, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, makes a cameo appearance as the potential future steward for Pemberley, the fabled Darcy family home.Īs expected, I loved the book. The rest of the novel is told through Liz's perspective as she navigates her love life and the ever-evolving changes in her family, from Lydia dating a new CrossFit trainer named Hamilton 'Ham' Ryan to their Aunt Margot and her wealthy entrepreneur stepson, Cousin Willie, coming to visit the Tudor.As a longtime Jane Austen fan, I was already looking forward to reading Eligible, a new novel by award-winning writer Curtis Sittenfeld based on Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice. Meanwhile, Liz feels disparaged and disrespected by Chip's judgmental sister, Caroline, and by Chip's fellow physician and friend, Fitzwilliam Darcy. The group has a barbeque for the Fourth of July, and Chip and Jane immediately become smitten with one another.

Bennet contacts a family friend and physician who also works at Christ Hospital with Chip. This doctor is named Chip Bingley, so in order to initiate a meeting with her daughters, Mrs. She is thrilled when she learns that a contestant on the dating reality TV show Eligible is coming to live and work as a doctor in Cincinnati. Bennet, the family matriarch, really wants her daughters to get married. Jane and Liz take over as the family caretakers, doing everything from cleaning to running errands to cooking healthy, doctor-approved meals for their father and the rest of the family. Meanwhile, Kitty and Lydia are more focused on their CrossFit classes and playing with their cell phones than moving out and finding jobs. Mary is pursuing her third master's degree in psychology and still lives at home. The Tudor house they grew up in is falling apart just like their family. They both live in New York City, but return to their sprawling childhood Tudor home in Cincinnati after their father has a health scare. Jane is a yoga instructor and Liz is a writer for fashion magazine Mascara. Plot Įligible tells the story of the five Bennet sisters - Jane (39), Liz (38), Mary (30), Kathleen 'Kitty' (26), and Lydia (23). Eligible: A modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice is a 2016 novel written by Curtis Sittenfeld that is a modern-day reinterpretation of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice set in Cincinnati, Ohio.Įligible is the latest book in the Austen Project, a series that pairs contemporary novelists with Jane Austen’s novels.

Eligible by curtis sittenfeld