Exclusive interview with author Colette L. Saucier and a review of her modernization of the Austen classic
Rating: 3 Stars
“I always threatened to burn it,” says The Proud and the Prejudiced author Colette L. Saucier. “The history of this novel begins with the-book-within-the-book The Edge of Darkness. I had written that novella a lifetime ago…inspired by too many soap operas and too many Sidney Sheldon books. My daughter had read it when she was a teenager and for some reason loved it. After I found a publisher for my first novel [Pulse and Prejudice], she pulled this out from where she had hidden it from me.”
We meet Alice McGillicutty, head writer of the TV soap opera All My Tomorrows. She’s having a tough year. Her mother passed away and she broke up with her boyfriend. The show she writes for is tanking in the ratings. The network has pressured star Peter Walsingham to join Tomorrows to raise the ratings. Peter arrives on the set with an entourage, including his manager and his actress girlfriend. Alice is reading an old book she found in her mother’s things. The book is old-fashioned, full of drama, angst and romance. Alice’s own life starts to mirror the plot of the book.
A pleasant read for summer. Pride and Prejudice fans will recognize some of the dialog. The story moves between Alice and Peter’s story and The Edge of Darkness, a novella written in first person. More back story could have helped to understand Alice and Peter better, why they do what they do. As Alice is a writer, it could have been more fun to have her writing the novella that mirrors her life instead of merely reading it.
Saucier says she did little research for this book, coming on the heels of her previous Austen-inspired novel. “After spending 18 months researching Pulse and Prejudice, not having to do much research came as a welcome relief,” says Saucier. “The New Orleans scenes I had researched over the years from all my visits to the French Quarter.”
“Since I had just written an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and had read Miss Austen’s novel about ten times by then, it felt natural to write a modern take on the classic love story,” says Saucier. “Although I begin with a detailed outline of the plot and the characters, once I begin writing, I devote much of my writing time to meditating to get into the head of the character.”
In addition to Pulse and Prejudice, Saucier wrote the romantic psychological thriller Alicia’s Possession and other works under a different pen name. In addition to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards, the abridged version of The Proud and the Prejudiced was named Favorite Modern Adaptation of the Year by Austenesque Reviews. Austenprose has named Saucier as Debut Author of the Year. Pulse and Prejudice won the Chatelaine Award for First Place in its Category for Romantic Fiction and the Readers’ Choice for Best Novel of the Year by Austenprose. Alicia’s Possession was voted a Top 10 Romance Novel of the Year in the P&E Readers’ Poll. The Proud and the Prejudiced has yet to be optioned for television or film.
Saucier’s next novel is the romantic suspense thriller The Widow Viuda. She is currently writing Dearest Bloodiest Elizabeth, the sequel to Pulse and Prejudice. The newlywed vampire Darcy and his bride Elizabeth move to antebellum New Orleans. “Because it is not an adaptation, I am not restrained by anyone else’s plot; so it will be much darker, bloodier, and sexier,” says Saucier.
Saucier will be at Authors After Dark in Atlanta in August. She lives in southeast Louisiana in a small lake community outside of New Orleans.
The Proud and the Prejudiced: A Modern Twist on Pride and Prejudice by Colette L. Saucier
Paperback, 292 pages, Publisher: Southern Girl Press (March 21, 2015), Language: English
ISBN: 9780986371806 $11.99
