The Other Bennet Sister: Mary Bennet is the Austen heroine for the 21st Century - here's why

Based on the acclaimed novel The Other Bennet Sister, a new TV imagining of the life of Pride and Prejudice character Mary Bennet has won the hearts of British viewers. Here's why this Austen character is so relatable today

"Her mother was right, she neither glowed nor bloomed," writes Janice Hadlow in her 2020 novel The Other Bennet Sister, a reimagining of the life of Mary Bennet. Mary is one of the five Bennet sisters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice – the one who is most often dismissed and forgotten. Despite early-19th Century conventions, she has no interest in marriage, or societal occasions: she'd rather have her head in a geology book. Oh, and to her family's dismay, she wears spectacles. But how else is she meant to read?

"Austenmania" is ever-growing, and 2026 alone will see three new major Austen adaptations across film and TV. From zombie comedies to murder mysteries, servant perspectives and Bollywood musicals, there have been endless spin-offs of Austen's beloved stories and characters. Even Mary, who is a minor character in Pride and Prejudice, has not been ignored in modern literature. There are a host of books about what she might have got up to when Elizabeth Bennet wasn't around – including a historical spy trilogy.

Now The Other Bennet Sister has been adapted for the small screen by Sarah Quintrell and Maddy Dai. Telling Mary's story through her own eyes, the show has been a huge hit with British audiences: 7.3 million viewers watched the first episode, and there have been swarms of Gen-Z TikTok fan edits. Why has this interpretation of the "plain" middle child sparked such devotion in viewers, particularly younger ones?

One way to answer that question is to go back to Austen's novel. Sandwiched between the two attractive, sensible elder sisters, Jane and Elizabeth, and the immature, younger sisters, Kitty and Lydia, Mary is an outlier. She is neither beautiful, nor silly. So, where does that leave her, and what did Austen intend to do with this character?

Mary's function in Pride and Prejudice is showing "the different ways girls can be," says Sandie Byrne, professor of English at the University of Oxford, UK. "Not all girls about whom you might write are beautiful and perfect. Austen is always mocking the sentimental novel and the gothic novel, in which the heroines are beautiful and talented... She's saying, some girls are like Mary."

Austen also demonstrates one of the truths of motherhood, Byrne says: "Children aren't always loved, and children aren't always loved equally."

When we meet Mary (played by Ella Bruccoleri) in the BBC TV series, she is clumsy, awkward and finds conversation a struggle, spouting random bits of knowledge to carry her through. There are hints such as these throughout that – in the modern day – she might be considered neurodivergent. Mary reminds us that children can........

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