Umarriageable by Soniah Kamal (Jan 2019)
A scandal and vicious rumor concerning the Binat family in Pakistan has 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.
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, wildly successful 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, Alys begins to realize that Darsee’s brusque manner may be hiding a very different man from the one she saw at first glance.
The best part of the book was how closely it adhered to Austen’s story with some deviations, and it showed how modern-day Pakistani society is similar to the society of Austen’s life two hundred years ago.
Frolic review here.