The Book Review26 Sep 2025

Book Club: Let's Talk About 'Pride and Prejudice'

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

So opens Jane Austen’s Regency-era romantic comedy “Pride and Prejudice,” which for centuries has delighted readers with its story of the five Bennet sisters and their efforts to marry well. While the novel moves nimbly among all of the family members and their various entanglements, its particular focus remains on the feisty second-eldest daughter, Elizabeth, and her vexed chemistry with the wealthy, arrogant, gorgeous Mr. Darcy. Their sharp wit, verbal jousting and mutual misunderstandings form the core of what might be considered the first enemies-to-lovers plot in modern literature.

On this week’s episode, the Book Club host MJ Franklin discusses “Pride and Prejudice” with his colleagues Jennifer Harlan, Emily Eakin and Gregory Cowles, and Austen in general with The Times’s Sarah Lyall.

Other books and authors mentioned in this discussion:

“Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors,” by Sonali Dev

“Book Lovers,” by Emily Henry

“The Marriage Plot,” by Jeffrey Eugenides

“Washington Square,” by Henry James

“Such a Fun Age,” by Kiley Reid

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