Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal

Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal | Published January 22nd 2019 by Ballantine Books  |  352 Pages | Goodreads

✅ REVIEW

A charming and engaging retelling of Pride & Prejudice that takes place in contemporary Pakistan.

If you enjoyed Jane Austen’s novel, then you will likely have a good time with this story. I felt the book captured its essence, it kept me interested and curious by being narrated in a different time and cultural setting from the original. The main themes are present and are still relevant to this day, double-standards, marriage, duty, family, and love.

I loved the pop-culture references, the characters mentioned books and movies I’ve watched and enjoyed. Also, food, who doesn’t love the mention of sumptuous, delicious dishes described in detail, you will be craving some of it.

Overall, I enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

✅ PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION

“In this one-of-a-kind retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in modern-day Pakistan, Alys Binat has sworn never to marry—until an encounter with one Mr. Darsee at a wedding makes her reconsider.

A scandal and vicious rumor concerning the Binat family have destroyed their fortune and prospects for desirable marriages, but Alys, the second and most practical of the five Binat daughters, has found happiness teaching English literature to schoolgirls. Knowing that many of her students won’t make it to graduation before dropping out to marry and have children, Alys teaches them about Jane Austen and her other literary heroes and hopes to inspire the girls to dream of more.

When an invitation arrives to the biggest wedding their small town has seen in years, Mrs. Binat, certain that their luck is about to change, excitedly sets to work preparing her daughters to fish for rich, eligible bachelors. On the first night of the festivities, Alys’s lovely older sister, Jena, catches the eye of Fahad “Bungles” Bingla, the wildly successful—and single—entrepreneur. But Bungles’s friend Valentine Darsee is clearly unimpressed by the Binat family. Alys accidentally overhears his unflattering assessment of her and quickly dismisses him and his snobbish ways. As the days of lavish wedding parties unfold, the Binats wait breathlessly to see if Jena will land a proposal—and Alys begins to realize that Darsee’s brusque manner may be hiding a very different man from the one she saw at first glance.

Told with wry wit and colorful prose, Unmarriageable is a charming update on Jane Austen’s beloved novel and an exhilarating exploration of love, marriage, class, and sisterhood.

✅ BOOK SOURCE AND FORMAT

Loan from Miami-Dade’s Library Overdrive, audiobook