Response by
Inko
Mar 11, 1997 (17:51)
There is a sequel called "The Third Sister" by Julia Barrett.
It's about Margaret when she's in her late teens and her sisters are both
married. I got it in England in paperback last summer - says published
1996.
It's not bad - certainly much better than Tennant, but I think it makes
Margaret rather tame - I've always thought of her as the adventurous type!
Posted by Lynn
on May 13, 1997 at 21:49:24: This one is not bad, about Margaret Dashwood,
with a couple good characters. My problem with this one is that she did
too much with Elinor and Marianne, even though it was supposed to be about
Margaret, and not enough character development with the people closely
involved with Margaret. It's a quick read, and it's entertaining, but nothing
out of the ordinary, I guess you could say. Infinitely better than Emma
Tenant's sequel to S&S, that's for sure!!!
Review by Lynn Lamy,
September 4, 1997
Julia Barrett, The Third Sister: This one was better
than Presumption, and I liked some of the characters she introduced,
but it still went much too fast. It is very hard to believe that
Margaret ends up with who she ends up with because she had been in love
with someone else only a few pages before. I understand most of these
books have publisher-set limits on the number of pages, but there were
ways she could have improved the believability. Still, it was entertaining.
Comment by
Yvette
on Wed, 20 May 1998 22:40:43
The Third Sister -Julia Barrett: I read this after reading
Presumption and I found it to be very predictable. If you really liked
Sense and Sensibility, 'though, you'll probably enjoy reading about
the further adventures of the youngest Dashwood sister.
Posted by Lynne on May
22, 1998 at 16:01:46:
I read this book about a year ago. As I recall, it concentrates
more on Margaret, but the other characters are mentioned fairly often.
And it does portray the marriage between Brandon and Marianne much more
positively than any other sequel I have read...which is only one: Eliza's
Daughter (which is awful, IMO).
Review by Linda Waldemar,
December 26, 1997
This book is not too bad, in my opinion. The characters did not
seem too very different from the ones created by Jane Austen. I did
not find the plot to be very strong; the author borrowed at least one incident
from JA.
Most of the story revolves around Margaret (the third Dashwood sister)
who is now 17 and much more mature than the 13 year-old of S&S.
The author tells us that she learned to be more circumspect in her sensibilities
from the experience that she observed with her older sister, Marianne.
In a similar manner to the plot of Presumption, Margaret is pursued
by two suitors, one good and one bad. At the end, the good one saves
the family from harm at the hands of the bad one and is rewarded by the
hand of Miss Dashwood.
If you find this book in your public library, give it a try.
Review by Robyn Wensley,
July 27, 2000
I was eager to read an added saga about the youngest and least talked
about sister in Sense & Sensibility. I found that The Third
Sister was much like Austen's novel in the way that it wasn't precisely
all about one person. It was certainly mostly about Margaret, but you got
to see some developing relationship between Mr. and Mrs Brandon and Mr.
and Mrs. E Ferrars, and more of Mrs. Dashwood. I found the development
of Lucy and Robert Ferrars to be true to their form! It was a quick read,
although still highly diverting and enjoyable. Brandon's ward is nicely
brought into this novel and I admit to liking the portrayal of her sweet
little son. Margaret's journey through her own romance is delightful, though
a few turns surprised me, but I did not find them discomfiting! This is
certainly a must read for any body fond of Jane Austen's Sense &
Sensibility.
Written by tish (2/13/2001
2:35 a.m.)
Having finally tripped over Julia Barrett's The Third Sister
at the library, I thought I might as well finally read it. I did so
yesterday, and still can't believe it...
Ugh! It's barely readable. Its very worst fault was not the extremely
thin plot, the shallow characterisations, or even its gross social inauthenticities;
it was quite simply the ghastly prose. Mercifully, the whole thing
is rather short, otherwise plowing through all that over-ornamented tosh
would have been impossible. "Barrett" is amateurish in her heavy-handed
imitation of Austen's intricacy with language, without achieving any (and
I mean any) of its superb clarity and precision. I feel I've been insulted
as a reader, and I don't even like to think of how offensive and...impertinent?
presumptuous?...this is to Austen as an author.
Can I revise that bit up there to "appallingly amateurish"? I'd hate
to raise her to the same level as many of the amateurs who publish at RoP,
and whose unpretentious work I've enjoyed far, far more than this!
Thanks for letting me get this out of my system. Well, almost, anyway...I'm
still getting the odd shudder....
Written by Erinn Melissa
(2/13/2001 3:41 p.m.)
I read this book, and I've got to admit, it wasn't the greatest book
ever, but it wasn't as bad as you're making it out to be. I probably
would have enjoyed it a lot more if she had written in her own style and
not tried to imitate JA (after all, who can imitate as well as JA
wrote? No one!). Aside from the very slow pace of the book (and I mean
very slow), I thought the story in itself was pretty OK. If you didn't
like this one, don't read JB's sequel to P&P - Presumption. I
can tell you right now that you won't like it!
