Austen's beautifully balanced sentences, lovely prose, well-drawn characters, and details of life in the Georgian era combine with her signature sharp satire, droll wit, dry humor to keep her works perennial favorites, often imitated by modern authors--and directors! Sense and Sensibility was adapted for film in 1995, starring such luminaries as Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman. A new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Catriona Balfe, releases in theatres October 16, 2026.
Whether you love the formality of Regency-era courtships, or are just a sucker for a good, dramatic love story, read on for a list of suggested Austen readalikes, adaptations, and retellings.
Make sure to check out WPL's Reader's Corner for more book suggestions!
The Originals
Emma by Jane Austen 🌶️
Beautiful, clever, rich--and single--Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee, Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected.
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen 🌶️
When Catherine Morland is taken to Bath to "come out" in society, she meets Henry Tilney, a young clergyman, and his sister. They are the children of the eccentric General Tilney, who when he meets Catherine believes her to be wealthier than she is and arranges for her to visit his house in Gloucestershire -- Northanger Abbey -- to entice her into marriage with Henry. When Catherine learns that the General's wife has been dead for some years, she becomes convinced that the General must have murdered her.
Persuasion by Jane Austen 🌶️
When Anne Elliot was nineteen, she fell in love with the ambitious naval officer Frederick Wentworth; the pair were quickly engaged. As the daughter of a baronet, however, Anne was persuaded by her family to end the imprudent relationship. Now, seven years later, Sir Walter Elliot's lavish spending has jeopardized the family fortune, while Wentworth has risen through the ranks to become a wealthy and distinguished captain. When fate brings them together again, their feelings are unchanged--but will they reconcile?
Human foibles and early nineteenth-century manners are satirized in this romantic tale of English country family life as Elizabeth Bennet and her four sisters are encouraged to marry well in order to keep the Bennet estate in their family.
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen 🌶️
Two sisters, one practical and conventional and the other emotional and sentimental, set their sights on men who will perfectly match their disparate personalities, with unexpected results.
Readalikes
- Ne'er Duke Well 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Peter Kent-newly inherited Duke of Stanhope and recently of New Orleans, Louisiana-must become respectable. Between his radical politics and the time he interrupted a minor royal wedding with a flock of sheep-not his fault!-he's developed a scandalous reputation at odds with his goal of becoming guardian to his half siblings. For help, he turns to the cleverest and most managing woman of his acquaintance, Lady Selina Ravenscroft. Selina is society's most proper debutante, save one tiny secret: she runs an erotic circulating library for women. - Earl Crush 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Wallflower heiress Lydia Hope-Wallace has corresponded with the reclusive Earl of Strathrannoch for three years. When she learns of his financial troubles, she travels to Scotland to propose a marriage of convenience: to herself. However, she discovers that the real Earl, Arthur, has no idea who she is; his brother has been impersonating him in their letters. Though he has no desire for a wife, Arthur must track down his brother, now tangled in British espionage. He reluctantly accepts Lydia’s help and, as they grow closer, and his brother’s mysterious past becomes a very present threat, Arthur will have to risk everything to keep her safe - even his heart. - Ladies in Hating 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Celebrated authoress Lady Georgiana Cleeve has achieved fame and fortune. Unfortunately, she’s also acquired an enemy: the enigmatic Lady Darling, whose spine-tingling plots appear to be pulled straight from Georgiana’s own manuscripts. What’s a stubborn, steely writer to do? Unmask her rival, of course. But unmasking doesn’t go according to plan—because Lady Darling is actually Cat Lacey, the butler’s daughter and object of Georgiana’s very secret, very embarrassing teenage infatuation.
Starring the fascinating members of the Bridgerton family, these England-based Regency romances feature a heady melange of humor, wit, and smoking-hot passion. Watch fiery aristocrats hatch elaborate plots and delve into dark secrets while pursuing their hearts' desire. The series' well-developed secondary characters and limpid prose add complexity to the lives and loves of the beautiful people of the 1800s.
Just For The Season by Rachel Griffiths 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Lady Charlotte Louisa Aveton knows all of London’s rules, and better yet, knows how to break them. But when she takes it too far and stumbles into a serious scandal, she knows only one thing will save her—marriage, as soon as possible. With only one summer to pick a husband, Charlotte invites all of England’s most eligible bachelors to an extravagant summer retreat at a country manor house. There’s a brooding artist, a wickedly handsome Russian prince, and one of the richest men in all of Europe...so why do her eyes keep sliding over to the Duke of Warrick, the only man who’s ever come close to breaking her heart? Does Charlotte’s summer of suitors have any room for second chances?
A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall 🌶️🌶️🌶️
When Viola Carroll was presumed dead at Waterloo she took the opportunity to live, at last, as herself. But freedom does not come without a price, and Viola paid for hers with the loss of her wealth, her title, and her closest companion, Justin de Vere, the Duke of Gracewood. Only when their families reconnect, years after the war, does Viola learn how deep that loss truly was. Shattered without her, Gracewood has retreated so far into grief that Viola barely recognizes her old friend in the lonely, brooding man he has become. As Viola strives to bring Gracewood back to himself, fresh desires give new names to old feelings. Feelings that would have been impossible once and may be impossible still, but which Viola cannot deny. Even if they cost her everything, all over again.
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell 🌶️
Through the story of Margaret Hale, the middle-class southerner who moves to the northern industrial town of Milton, Gaskell skilfully explores issues of class and gender in the conflict between Margaret's ready sympathy with the workers and her growing attraction to the charismatic mill owner, John Thornton.
A Rare Find by Joanna Lowell 🌶️🌶️🌶️
When an aspiring archaeologist teams up with her childhood enemy for a treasure hunt, they find it impossible to bury their growing feelings, in this charming queer historical romance.
Sisters of Fortune by Esther Levy Chehebar 🌶️
The Cohen sisters are at a crossroads. Nina, the eldest, is disillusioned with the tight-knight community she and her sisters were raised in. Fortune, the middle sister, is the center of attention as her wedding approaches, bringing with it pressures and hopes for the future. Lucy, the youngest, is a senior at her yeshiva high school, and recently started sneaking around with a mysterious older bachelor. As Fortune gets closer and closer to standing below the chuppah, the three sisters find themselves in a tug of war between tradition and modernity, balancing what their community wants against what they want for themselves...
Adaptations & Retellings
Tess Bright just scored her dream role starring in an adaptation of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. But one thing is standing in Tess's way-well, one very tall, annoyingly handsome person, actually: Hugh Balfour. Sparks fly, but not in the way Tess hoped, when an electrical accident sends the two feuding co-stars back in time to Jane Austen's era.
Welcome to Bennet House, the only all-women’s dorm at prestigious Longbourn University, home to three close friends who are about to have an eventful year. EJ is an ambitious Black engineering student. Her best friend, Jamie, is a newly out trans woman studying French and theatre. Tessa is a Filipina astronomy major with guy trouble. For them, Bennet House is more than a residence—it’s an oasis of feminism, femininity, and enlightenment. But as great as Longbourn is for academics, EJ knows it can be a wretched place to find love.
- First Impressions 🌶️
A modern tale loosely based on Pride and Prejudice finds lawyer Eddi Boswick landing a part in a local theater production opposite an unlikely but attractive leading man who hides a difficult secret. - Reason and Romance🌶️
Sisters Elaina and Anna Woods face important decisions about love when Anna begins an impulsive romance with Willis Kenney and sensible Elaina finally gives in to her feelings for Ted Farris.
The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman 🌶️Pemberley is thrown into chaos after Elizabeth Bennett's disgraced sister Lydia arrives and announces that her husband Wickham has been murdered.
In this modern day retelling of Pride & Prejudice, three sisters return to their childhood home in Cincinatti when their father has a health scare. Mrs. Bennet has one thing on her mind: how to marry off her daughters, especially as Jane's fortieth birthday fast approaches. Enter Chip Bingley, a handsome new-in-town doctor who recently appeared on the juggernaut reality TV dating show Eligible...
Introducing Mrs. Collins by Rachel Parris 🌶️
- Pride, Prejudice, and Cheese Grits 🌶️
This hilarious Southern retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice tells the story of two hard-headed Civil war historians who find that first impressions can be deceiving. - Emma, Mr. Knightley, and Chili-Slaw Dogs 🌶️
A new and comical contemporary take on the perennial Jane Austen classic, Emma. - Persuasion, Captain Wentworth and Cracklin' Cornbread 🌶️
A lively Southern retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion, featuring Lucy Crawford, who is thrown back into the path of her first love while on a quest to save her beloved family home.
Searching for a radical solution to a lifetime of spinsterhood, Jane Austen is accidentally transported 200 years into the future onto a Hollywood film set of Northanger Abbey.
This hip contemporary romance combines Jane Austen-inspiration and foodie fiction in a witty and engaging tale of two sisters who are forced to uproot to unfamiliar Austin, Texas, after high rent and broken relationships force them away from their San Francisco life.
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
In honor of her 250th birthday, eight authors have come together with wildly imaginative reboots of the lives of several of Jane Austen’s minor characters. Written with plenty of love and wit, these clever stories star everyone from Pride and Prejudice’s snobbish Caroline Bingley to the modern descendant of Sense and Sensibility’s Eliza Williams and much more. Blurring genres and taking us across the oceans, Ladies in Waiting is a heartfelt celebration of Jane Austen and her timeless masterpieces.
Daisy struggles to keep her family intact amid a scandal involving her father.
In a story that runs parallel to the events of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Longbourn examines the lives of the Bennet family's household servants, whose days are spent laying fires, cooking meals, emptying chamber pots, changing linens, and performing other domestic tasks. All are content with (or at least resigned to) their lot in life--save for housemaid Sarah, whose restlessness is exacerbated by the unexpected arrival of mysterious new manservant, James Smith.
Zoe Knight, a struggling romance writer, has sworn off men for good. She now curbs her loneliness with the help of the best book boyfriends in literature -- and there is no better man than Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy. So when she stumbles into a classic London bookshop and argues with the annoyingly attractive store owner, Nick, who refuses to sell romance novels, she decides to liberate him of a dusty copy of Pride and Prejudice abandoned on a top shelf. But this is no ordinary book. After reading from the pages, Zoe finds she has accidentally summoned the Mr. Darcy to the real world.
Join Jane Austen fan Olivia Bennett on a romantic adventure in the English countryside, where settling for anything less than Mr. Darcy would be unacceptable.
A reimagining of the story of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice spinster, Mary Bennet, finds her navigating limited cultural expectations before embracing her intellectual identity and making her own choices about her future.
First in a series. A continuation of the story of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice begins after the wedding of Elizabeth and Darcy and follows their relationship and that of Jane and Bingley, as they cope with the changes, joys, and tragedies in their lives.
In a timely update of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, critically acclaimed author Ibi Zoboi skillfully balances cultural identity, class, and gentrification against the heady magic of first love in her vibrant reimagining of this beloved classic.
Pride & Preston Lin by Christina Hwang Dudley 🌶️
Lissie is the middle of three sisters, orphaned and taken in by their aunt and uncle. Both she and her older sister, Jenny, work in the family restaurant while pursuing their education and career dreams. When Lissie accidentally serves a dish containing shellfish paste to an allergic customer, she runs afoul of the wealthy Lin family. Their golden boy, Preston, star swimmer and Stanford Ph.D. student, is as handsome as he is self-righteous. Lissie hates him and everything he stands for, but circumstances keep bringing them together. Can she overcome her pride and her initial misgivings about Preston Lin and his condescending mother? Will these enemies turn into lovers?
Pride and Prejudice in Space by Alexis Lampley 🌶️
Firefly meets a Regency-era retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice--perfect for fans of the classic romance novel, Zombies, and Amie Kaufman's The Illuminae Files.
The Rajes series by Sonali Dev
- Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors 🌶️🌶️🌶️
A neurosurgeon from a politically ambitious immigrant family clashes with a talented dessert chef who would prove he is more than his pedigree. - Recipe for Persuasion 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Chef Ashna Raje thinks that joining the cast of Cooking with the Stars will help save her restaurant and prove to her mother that she's not a failure, but when she's paired with her first love, Rico Silva, the kitchen begins to heat up. - Incense and Sensibility 🌶️🌶️🌶️
An Indian American twist to Jane Austen's classic Sense and Sensibility in this delightful retelling that is a feast for the senses. - The Emma Project🌶️🌶️🌶️
Emma gets a fresh Indian-American twist from award-winning author Sonali Dev in her heartwarmingly irresistible Jane Austen inspired rom com series.
Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope 🌶️
A modern retelling of the Jane Austen classic follows the Dashwood sisters--Elinor, Marianne and Margaret--as they, after the death of their father, must come to terms with the cruelties of life without the status of their country house, the protection of the family name or the comfort of an inheritance.
Jane Austen meets Bridgerton in this sapphic romance between Charlotte Lucas and Mary Bennet that begins four years after the end of Pride and Prejudice.
This retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice set in modern-day Pakistan features scene-by-scene recreations will delight Janeites, but the setting also provides both humor and thought-provoking insight into Pakistani culture.
Four young ladies at the side of the ballroom make a pact to help each other find husbands . . . no matter what it takes.
Annotations are from Novelist -- find your next great read with NoveList Plus!
Note: The chili peppers denote the steaminess, or spice level, of the book's romantic/intimate elements; visit https://www.romance.io/steamrating for the key.
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