Stuck up and stupid by Angourie Rice & Kate Rice

In this modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, the tone is light and fun. Lily’s family live at sunny Pippi Beach in a holiday house owned by an aunt. The girls and especially their attention-loving mother, Lydia, frolic in bikinis, enjoy Friday night drinks on the green, and are supported by the occasional house-cleaning job. Into this world stray two handsome Hollywood stars, the charming Casey Brandon and the aloof Dorian Khan, and their companions. Of course Lily and her sweet cousin Juliet get to meet them, and you know where the story goes from there.

Mother and daughter team, Kate and Angourie Rice, wrote this story over a summer at their family beach house. The depiction of the sun and surf lifestyle at the Aussie beach rings true, and adds authenticity to the setting. Both are also well experienced with the Hollywood lifestyle having successful roles as scriptwriter and actor in Los Angeles.

In fact the book reads like a script; we are told everything the characters think, say and do. Nothing is hidden, nothing is subtle. It is a lighthearted romantic romp, and could easily be visualised as a film. It would make an easy summer read, and perhaps for the younger teen a simple entree to the the more complex world of Austen.

Themes: Austen adaptation, Romantic comedy.

Helen Eddy