Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh

Gr 9 Up–Audrey lives in modern-day Pittsburgh, where she loves her family but feels burnt out and stuck in a rut, desperate to attend her dream art college but unable to find her creative spark to finish her portfolio. Lucy lives in 1812 England, where she’s doing her best to live up to her autocratic father’s expectation that she marry a man she doesn’t love and fit into a traditional wifely role. When Audrey is abruptly transported to Lucy’s time and place, both girls have to make big adjustments while becoming fast friends and navigating differing social expectations. Their friendship soon blossoms into more, but how will they make this romance a reality if they are from different times? This sweet LGBTQIA+ love story with a twist is told from the two main characters’ perspectives in alternating chapters. Both girls are white, and initially confused by the feelings they develop for one another. Lucy especially, as an aristocratic lady, must cope with society and her father’s expectations, which definitely do not include being gay. Readers will relate to Audrey’s modern-day challenges, but will also learn from Lucy and gain a new appreciation for the limitations she experienced as a woman in the 19th century. Character growth is steady, and while the plot moves a bit slowly, anyone who reads period classics will appreciate the attention to time-appropriate details such as ladies’ complicated clothing, social etiquette, dancing at balls, and how aristocrats ran their households.