What to Read, Based on Your Favourite Jane Austen Heroine
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Do you love the heroines in Jane Austen books? Here are recommended reads, based on each Jane Austen heroine. These classic books feature heroines similar to Elizabeth Bennet, Emma Woodhouse, Anne Elliot, and all the others from Austen’s completed novels.
This past year, my local book club read through the completed novels of Jane Austen. It was an absolute delight to discuss these books with friends, to discover things I’d never noticed before, and to learn more about Austen’s life. Reading Austen’s novels back to back really made me appreciate how different each book is, and I think a lot of this is driven by the leading ladies. Each Jane Austen heroine is a unique and individual creation, and it reminds me of having sisters or daughters: look at these girls from the same family (or in this case, author), and they are each so unalike! Incidentally, that’s one of the things I love about L. M. Montgomery and Louisa May Alcott, too; they’re authors who create a lot of heroines but do an excellent job making them distinct.
Nevertheless, my mind can’t help but make comparisons, and as I was re-acquainting myself with Austen’s heroines, other literary ladies came to mind. I thought it would be fun to make some introductions! If you love Jane Austen’s heroines–or have a particular favourite or two–here are some other classic books that feature similar heroines whom I’d like you to meet. Of course, these women and Austen’s ladies are not exact cognates of each other. But they’re as close as I can find! They could be each other’s stunt doubles in a movie.
So, please enjoy, and let us know in the comments what other books and heroines Jane Austen fans should read!
If your favourite heroine is Elinor Dashwood, read Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
What if Eleanor Dashwood narrated a novel? I think her narrative voice and role would be a lot like Mary Smith’s in Cranford. Mary sees value in the simple and quaint way of life in the rural village of Cranford, where she is a frequent visitor. She describes the residents and rhythms of the community with sympathetic interest, laced with gentle and perceptive humor. Like Eleanor, Mary comes across as someone who’s easy to be with, and a valuable friend. Marianne would no doubt find Cranford dull, but Elinor would appreciate it just like Mary does, and fall in easily with the “elegant economy” practiced by the Cranford ladies.
If your favourite heroine is Marianne Dashwood, read A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott
Not everyone shares Marianne’s passion for dead leaves, but I bet you a dozen volumes of Byronic poetry that Rosamond Vivian does. Like Marianne, Rosamond is a hopeless romantic, impetuous, naive, someone who will follow her (throbbing and passionate) heart rather than social conventions. With no Eleanor to act as ballast, Rosamond leaves her confining life and sails away with Philip Tempest, a mysterious and compelling man who beguiles her with poetry references.
If your favourite heroine is Elizabeth Bennet, read North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Although North and South is a very different book from Austen’s novel (and it rankled me when the miniseries tried to Austenize the story), Margaret Hale is enough like Elizabeth Bennet to make it a pretty sure bet that if you enjoy one heroine’s story, you’ll enjoy the other, too. Margaret and Elizabeth both have that fire–spirit–energy–whatever you want to call it, that spark. Both women face uncertain futures, especially Margaret, as hers is immediate (whereas Elizabeth is at least secure for her father’s lifetime). Margaret rises to the occasion, is loyal to her family (despite them being difficult), and remains true to herself. On the fault side, she’s quick to make judgements and has some preconceived ideas that need amending. North and South is dramatic and deeply romantic, and you’ll fly through it as quickly as you did Pride and Prejudice.
If your favourite heroine is Fanny Price, read The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
If you’re familiar with The Mysteries of Udolpho you might’ve expected me to put Catherine Morland’s name next to it. But the fact is, even though Catherine imagines herself to be in a gothic novel, she’s nothing like the heroine of this mother of all gothic novels, and Fanny Price is. Fanny is very moral and conscientious, just like Emily St. Aubert in Udolpho. Both women almost shrink from the weight of the things they encounter, yet somehow manage to keep themselves pure and unsullied from the darker shades of their world. One of the things Emily must face–like a typical gothic heroine–is isolation, and this feels like Fanny as well. Even though Fanny lives in a household with other people, she’s usually on the outside of the group. If you have the humility to learn from a heroine who seems “merely” meek and mild, then you appreciate Fanny Price and you’ll appreciate walking with her literary sister, Emily, through her brooding and melancholy world.
If your favourite heroine is Emma, read The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Rachel Verinder is the heroine of Wilkie Collins’s Victorian mystery classic, and although she’s not in every scene in the novel (the way Emma very nearly is in her novel), she has a strong personality that makes her stand out. Like Emma, Rachel is well off, a bit spoiled, used to getting her own way and doing as she pleases. Both heroines also share the trait of conviction, which plays a major role in the plots of their novels. Emma is convinced she’s right about a lot of things–particularly what’s going on socially around her–while Austen constantly undercuts this by pulling in themes and language around “blindness” and “blundering.” Rachel, too, spends most of The Moonstone utterly convinced of something and acting on that conviction. The solution of the mystery revolves around perception and what we perceive with our senses. This, along with the heroines’ personalities, make these books a great pairing from my point of view!
If your favourite heroine is Catherine Morland, read The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
The subject of James’s Portrait is Isabel Archer, a naive and idealistic young woman who ventures into the wider world. As we all know, Catherine has a lively imagination, and Isabel’s seems to match: “Her imagination was by habit ridiculously active; when the door was not open it jumped out of the window. She was not accustomed indeed to keep it behind bolts.” Before things begin to “happen” in Isabel’s life, she’s eager for a chance to be a heroine. As James explains, “Sometimes she went so far as to wish that she might find herself some day in a difficult position, so that she should have the pleasure of being as heroic as the occasion demanded.” Well, Isabel certainly does find herself in some difficult positions! Like Catherine, she meets a pair of very bad actors, but you’ll have to read the book to find out whether or not she falls under their influence. Although I see plenty of similarities between Catherine and Isabel’s personalities and outlook, their paths diverge a good bit as far as the outcome of their adventures…and I feel like you should not be without this cryptic message before you begin!
If your favourite heroine is Anne Elliot, read Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
“Little Dorrit” sounds like the name of another Tiny Tim character, which initially made me not want to read the novel; I didn’t fancy 900 pages with Tiny Tim in the leading role, sweet and saintly though he may be. But Amy Dorrit is not a Tiny Tim. We get a few paragraphs about her infancy and childhood, but for most of the novel she is a young woman. She is a bit saintly, yes, but she’s also very real, with emotions and sorrows and secret hopes and dreams. Amy is akin to Anne because both display the virtue of fortitude in the midst of hard circumstances and among a family that does not understand nor appreciate them. And to their fortitude, add patience and peacefulness to their account. Compassion, quiet inner strength, and a fine mind–if you loved these things in Anne you’ll be delighted to find them in Amy.
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I love the Austen recommendations! I’ve been trying to re-read all of her books this year for her 250th birthday. It would be fun to pair Austen books with your recommendations! Thank you!
You’re welcome! I did not realise this is her 250th birthday year…how neat!
If your favorite herione is Catherine Morland–or even if you just love Northanger Abbey, regardless to how you view it in comparison with Austen’s other lovely works–you HAVE to read The Adventures of Cherubina. The Adventures of Cherubina was written in the Regency era, just like Northanger Abbey, and it’s kind of like if Northanger Abbey was written like a wonderful star studded late twentieth century comedy except with higher vocabulary and better taste.
Nice! I love hearing about random forgotten books like these!!
I loved North and South. I’m currently reading Middlemarch by George Eliot, and I think any Austen lover would love her writing style and characters!
Spot on! Austen lovers owe it to themselves to read Eliot. Middlemarch is amazing.
When I saw the topic of this post, I wondered who you picked for Elinor Dashwood. As it happens, I decided months ago that Cranford was going to be my read for the August 2025 challenge. I’m looking forward to it even more now. (I saw the miniseries, but the only Gaskell book I’ve read is North and South.)
Cranford is delightfully different from North and South! I love them both, it just pleases me to no end to get more proof that Gaskell is a great writer, when she shows her versatility like that!
These are wonderful pairings! Your post helped me see connections between characters that I hadn’t noticed before. Oh and also, the theme of “blindness” in Emma–I’m going to be looking for that now!
Oh yes, it’s all over the book! The words “blind” and “blunder” appear more (far more) in Emma than in any other Austen novel. (I word searched them all when I was doing notes for book club(: