"Lions and Liquorice" is basically a modern adaptation of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" with a few curve balls thrown in along the way. It is a must read for any "Pride and Prejudice" fanatics or someone who must know the gist of the original story, but can't quite get it.

This is Pride and Prejudice in drag. This modern adaption is lots of fun with swears and sex that Jane Austen would pale.

The main characters are John (aka Jane) who is a stoic Anglo-Saxon widower whose pregnant wife Sally was run over by a lorry.

There is Nick Bevan (aka Lizzy) a writer and brother-in-law to John who does not have the success as a writer he had as a journalist.

There is Mary Dance (aka Mr. Darcy) who is a bold and brash American who can't help but fall in love with the Welsh, Nick Bevan.

Their courtship is tumultous and their recovery is interuppted by his son Chris (aka Lydia but with more brains) who has gone to Banghkok(sp?) with Sasha (aka Wickham) who instead of ravishing the seventeen year old (which he probably dearly wants) she plans on using him as a mule.

This P&P modern adaptation is loads of fun.

What a delicious book! A role-reversed spoof of Pride and Prejudice that has at least three levels of parody (there may be more that I missed), it is witty, sexy, and altogether fun to read. I hope that Kate Fenton's books are more widely published in the US in the future.