Jane Austen fans will appreciate this rendition of Pride and Prejudice modern day Pakistani style. Mr. & Mrs. Binat and their five daughters relocate back to Dilipibad, due to change in their fortune. The oldest daughters, Jena and Alys, become teachers at the British School and Alys meets Valentine Darsee. Despite his wealth, Alys is not easily impressed and the story begins.

This is the first remake of Pride and Prejudice that I think is to the “T” in accuracy. Kamal smoothly integrated much of the Pakistani culture and tradition in this novel. Her descriptions were so vivid that I had to stop & look things up. This was the perfect book I didn’t know I needed.

Over the last eighteen months, I have made a point of reading more fiction written by authors of Asian and/or Middle Eastern ethnicity so I was very excited to see the retelling of a favorite classic, Pride and Prejudice.

Alys Binat and her family are a less-than-traditional Pakistani family trying to make ends meet following several family scandals. Alys is fiercely independent and modern, maturing to an "unmarriageable" age in a society where a woman's worth depends upon her making a good match. When a local well-to-do family hosts the wedding event of the year, a series of meetings will change the lives of the Binat family forever.

Unmarriageable is a clever modern-day romance filled with insight into Pakistani patriarchal culture while still embracing the unique beauty of a particular Asian culture. While updating the familiar storyline of Pride and Prejudice, Soniah Kamal critically examines the complex social standards faced by women across cultural boundaries. This is a fun read which deftly asks questions about what makes up a person's worth.

Although I initially struggled with the number of characters and family histories, once the back stories were established, I struggled to put this book down and engage with the "real world" again. The cultural and geographical illustrations and the engaging and diverse characters had me by turns delighted and disgusted and fully immersed in a story for which I already knew the ending, and still could not wait for all the threads of plotline to resolve.

Highly recommended for fans of Jane Austen, the culturally curious, readers who prefer diverse authors and anyone who enjoys a light-hearted romance with fierce cultural commentary.

Unmarriageable is a delightful, updated retelling of Pride & Prejudice set in Pakistan. Brought up in a family with her mother's only goal to marry all 5 of her daughters off well, Alys Binat has fought her mother every time and is still happily unwed at 30 and teaching young girls at a private school that marriage is not their only option. Alys meets Mr Darsee at a wedding and his rude comments confirm her decision to never marry. One day Mr Darsee does something that Alys never expected, which changes her opinion of him and marriage.

I enjoyed this novel and reading about the Pakistani culture and fashion. It seems that the fashion played a large role in the book as your socioeconomic class was defined by your fashion availability and choices. For each social event portrayed in the book, the author would go into detail about what each of the five daughters and the mother wore for the event. I think this says much about the treatment and views of women in Pakistan, as well as the family structure.

The story itself was charming and easy to read. I'd highly recommend it to any Pride & Prejudice fan or just a lover of contemporary romances.

Fan fiction with a twist! Kamal's takeoff on Pride and Prejudice is set in Pakistan in 2000-2001, and the commentary on Pakistani culture is most interesting. How you feel about this likely will depend on how you feel about the rash of authors who have reimagined Austen. Some are better than others and this one falls squarely in the middle. The characters hew almost too much to those in P&P. Unlike some others, the names didn't bother me (well, Darsee was a bit over the top) but the situations are just changed enough to keep you entertained. I did find this more frantic in spots than the original. You'll root for these women, especially Jena and Alys, who are nicely done. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Try this for a different version of a much loved tale.

3.5 STARS!

Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal is a modern retelling of Jane Austen's classic story, Pride & Prejudice.

I loved the cultural aspect. It was very traditional. We have these strong women from Pakistan who want an education and to be empowered and not worry about finding a husband.

Alysba Binat and Valentine Darsee were opposites. They have this fierce hate-love relationship. It was great seeing them bicker back and forth. And I especially loved reading and learning about the Binat family. They were funny, at moments rather crude, and misunderstood.

I love how the author connected the original points from Pride & Prejudice to this modern rendition. Above all I loved getting to learn about the culture and traditions of Pakistan. The food sounded divine! Though the writing was strong, I did find the itself dragged a bit with all the detail. Also, I would have loved more encounters and angsty moments between Alys and Darsee.

Overall, I recommend this novel to lovers of P&P and anyone who loves good cultural literature. This story was truly charming and enthralling.

Pride and Prejudice has a special place in my romance loving heart. I jumped on reading this. I enjoyed it. It was similar, but also different. It did start off a little slow. It took a second to get into. I loved learning about the culture.



I voluntarily read an early copy.

Unmarriageable is the story of a young woman, Alys Binat, and her family. It is a basic retelling of Pride and Prejudice, in modern-day Pakistan.

As a huge fan of Pride and Prejudice, I couldn't wait to start this book! I thoroughly enjoyed the book. At first, I had my doubts. It did start a little slow, but once it picked up, I couldn't put it down, and I didn't want it to end. I can't say that Alys was my favorite character, but I love what she stood for, and how she could finally admit when she was wrong. I was definitely in love with Darsee, but I have a weak spot for a boys with bad attitudes with a dark secret!

I really want to know what happens for the rest of their lives. All of the Binat sisters! Reading the book made me feel like part of the family, and now that it is over, I feel like I am missing part of myself!

Thank you #NetGalley for an advanced copy of #Unmarriageable!

Wonderful modern day telling of a classic Jane Austen novel. I loved the setting, our heroine and the writing. You made Jane proud!

The publisher gracefully allowed me to read an ARC of this from Netgalley. I am a big fan of Pride and Prejudice, so when I saw this described as Pride and Prejudice in Pakistan, I was intrigued!

I was pleasantly surprised by how invested I got in this story and these characters by the end of this book. While it's been a few years since I've read Pride and Prejudice, from what I can remember, the story is very similar, just with different time and cultural values put into place.

Honestly, I think the only thing that kept this from being a 5 star read from me is there were some periods in which the story lagged for me and it got a little boring. However, those points were all in the beginning of the book. Once I got to about the 50% mark, I was very invested and eager to see what happened next. I think if the first 50% of the book had been cut down by about 10-15%, the flow and timing of the story would've been perfect.

I really enjoyed the characters in the story. I was really rooting for the heroine to end up in the place that I wanted her to be (don't want to spoil for anyone who actually hasn't read Pride and Prejudice). In the same token, I was livid and furious at some other characters in the book and found myself actually contorting my face with how repulsed I was by the things they sometimes said or did. However, that means a book has gotten under my skin, and when that happens, that means I'm truly captivated by the story. And that's the entire goal of reading a book for me - for it to effect me emotionally, whether it be elation, fury, despair, or a combination of all three.

I feel like this book did have some information in there about the Pakistani culture, but I wish there had been even more. I was surprised by how old-fashioned the culture was, even though the setting of this was the early 2000's. There were a LOT of Pakistani words and phrases in here. Sometimes the book did a great job explaining what they meant, and sometimes it didn't, so that part was a toss up.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this story because it has a trope that I just adore and because it brought back fond memories about the book that it was based off of. I would definitely recommend to anyone who likes this type of genre.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a girl can go from pauper to princess or princess to pauper in the mere seconds it takes for her to accept a proposal.” – the opening sentence of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen

This delightful Pakistani re-telling of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE starts out with ninth-grade teacher Alys Binat asking her female students to rewrite the opening sentence of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. Their writings nakedly reveal their societal status and how they have been taught that marriage is their ultimate goal.

Alys’ heart sinks each year as her students, with their brilliant minds, never consider exploring the world and paving their own ways through life instead of seeing “marrying young and well” as their only options. Yet each year she uses the reading of Jane Austen’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE to show how the mother and the protagonist start out with similar views and goals and where and why they begin to separate in those views.

Alys Binat says she will never marry but, like Elizabeth Bennett, life just did not turn out that way when Darsee entered her life. Kamal manipulated the characters’ names to somewhat match the name of the characters in the classic telling. Some of the nicknames were hilarious – Rum, Gin, Hammy, Dracula. I especially loved the characters of Sherry Looclus (Charlotte Lucas) and Farhat Kaleen (Mr. Collins). Sherry is the kind of friend you want by your side through good and bad. The story was utterly delightful and the writing impeccable.

Charming and funny with relatable characters, this unique re-telling of the classic story PRIDE AND PREJUDICE looks at love, sisterhood, class, and marriage with a fresh twist. Kamal provided awesome insight into human relationships, especially within the Binat family of five daughters and their parents. (“O’Connor, Austen, Alcott, Wharton. Characters’ emotions and situations are universally applicable across cultures, whether you’re wearing an empire dress, shalwar kurta, or kimono.”) Some conversations are pretty much universal, heard in families whatever the culture may be. Example: “Both of you, shut up,” Mrs. Binat said. “For God’s sake, is this why I went through your pregnancies and labor pains and nursed you both and gave myself stretch marks and saggy breasts? So that you can grow up and be bad sisters? How many times must I tell you: Be nice to each other, love each other, for at the end of the day, siblings are all you have.” Tell me you haven’t heard some version of that from your own mother.

I enjoyed the historical tidbits about the partitioning of Pakistan and India and the involvement of the English empire. I suspect she used much farce in her descriptions of modern-day Pakistani culture. A truly delightful story. I end with a quote from the book that I think should be highlighted: “We know that friends can be made anywhere and everywhere, regardless of race or religion.”

I received an Advance Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, set in Pakistan was a gem! Alys is a school teacher in her late twenties and determine never to marry. Her traditional mother is appaled that her daughter would bring shame upon the family by choosing to be a spinster. To Mrs. Binat, marriage, in particular to a man of wealth and class, is the only acceptable calling in a girl's life. Enter the meeting between headstrong Alys and the insufferable Mr. Darsee at a wedding. The following months delve into cultural expectations, family drama, clash between classes and inevitable romance.

This was an utterly satisfying, amusing and charming retelling of Austen's classic. Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy, in exchange for my honest feedback.

Unmarriageable is an interesting retelling of Pride and Prejudice. Set in Pakistan (a country I've read woefully few books set in, and an environment that I felt lent itself very well to this retelling), Soniah Kamal has skillfully updated the Pride and Prejudice story to her characters and locale, and even casual Pride and Prejudice fans can enjoy this book for the interesting perspectives on Pakistani culture. She found humorous and interesting ways to stay true to the original while taking creative license enough to make it plausible for the update.
It's a little too long, and the epilogue takes the retelling and kind of hits readers over the head to make sure they've picked up on the (fairly obvious) links to the original work, but it still deserves a place on lists of best retellings of this enduring story.

Soniah Kamal, Author of “Unmarriageable” “Pride and Prejudice in Pakistan” has written a thought-provoking, intense, entertaining, witty, unique, cultural and contemporary novel. The Genres for this Novel are Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Humor, Romance, Contemporary, and Satire. The timeline for this story is set in the present and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or events in the story. The author describes her colorful characters as complex and complicated.

I appreciate that Soniah Kamal discusses the cultural differences in Pakistan between the weathy and poor classes. Of noted interest is the dilemma facing the Pakastanian family with young girls, seeking to get them married as quickly as they can. and to someone of both class and wealth. The young girls are faced with pressures of marrying just to be married, love, waiting to be married for sex, being taken care of financially, or financially being able to support oneself, continuing education, and having babies.

The Binat family has certainly had their share of disappointments. After losing most of their wealth to family, they are adjusting as best they can. Two of the five daughters, Alys and Jena are working as teachers. Coincidentally, Jane Austin is discussed in class. Alys questions many of the reasons why a woman should marry. She is intelligent, and believes that education is important.

When one of the wealthiest families sends invitation for a wedding, Mrs. Binat is ready for her daughters to find husbands. She would like them to “fish“ for husbands. Mrs. Binat just wants to see her daughters wed, no matter what. Jena meets “Bungles” a well established man, and her mother is waiting for a proposal for her. Bungles’ friend Valentine Darsee does not seem to impressed with the Binat family. Alys overhears Valentine discussing them.



I enjoyed this witty and entertaining story and would recommend this to anyone who enjoys an alternative and modern day “Pride and Prejudice”. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.

3.5 stars
I think it’s the mark of a good book that you can know exactly what’s going to happen and still want to keep reading. That’s how I felt while reading “Unmarriageable,” a pretty faithful retelling of “Pride and Prejudice,” set in 21st century Pakistan.

The book follows the saga of the Binat (instead of Bennet) family, with five single daughters and a mother who wants them all married to wealthy and successful men. Alys, the book’s Elizabeth, is an intelligent, headstrong school teacher, who is not keen on her society’s views of marriage and women.

I really enjoyed Soniah Kamal’s use of contemporary Pakistan as the setting. I also enjoyed many of the characters, such as Alys, Jena, and Nona. I did, however, feel like some of the elements were a little forced so that they would align with the original story. For example, the characters’ names (like Darsee, Wickaam, and Qitty) are a little too similar to the original names. This wouldn’t be much of a problem, except for the fact that Alys is very familiar with “Pride and Prejudice” – she teaches it in her class, and she mentions Jane Austen a few times. Didn’t she find it weird that basically everyone she knows shares a name with a character in that book?

This was a fun read, and I thank Net Galley and Ballantine Books for the advance reader’s copy.

“Unmarriageable” by Soniah Kamal is a modern day re-telling of Pride and Prejudice set in Pakistan. It tells the story of Alys Binat and her sisters dealing with pressures from the mother and society to get married. They grow up in a culture where woman are married while still in high school and some don’t even finish school, where a woman being married is more important than her having a career, where marriage is everything and finding love is not as important as marrying a wealthy man.

To be honest, I have not read Pride and Prejudice, but I am familiar with the story. I thought that Kamal did a good job of keeping to the story, but adding some modern twists. The way she kept the names as close to the originals was very cute in my opinion. Her description of the culture in Pakistan was very well done as well.

I didn’t go into this book thinking that I would like it as much as I ended up liking it. It started off slightly slow, but when they got to the wedding festivities it picked up, and I was hooked! Although I knew how the book would turn out, I wanted to keep reading especially to see how Alys and Darsee’s story unfolded. I was routing for them to get together the entire time I was reading. I would definitely recommend this book especially to anyone who loves Pride and Prejudice.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballentine for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely loved reading this book. The characters were well-rounded and likeable without being too similar to their namesakes from Pride and Prejudice, and I enjoyed the many ways that the author found to twist the P&P names into Pakistani names whilst still leaving them recognizable for English readers. Even knowing the P&P pattern, I was interested in how the problems the characters faced would resolve; the unique details of this story maintained my my interest despite my familiarity with the overall plot.
I felt that the book's comparison between modern day Pakistan and regency England enhanced my understanding of both cultures, increasing my appreciation for both Unmarriageable and Pride and Prejudice. The author's approach to Mr. and Mrs. Binat added a complexity to their characters that changed my perspective and increased my sympathy for them, ultimately reinforcing the conflict that Alys feels between her desire to please her parents and her desire to be true to herself.

This is totally a me-not-you situation that I couldn't get into this because I'm just not in a romance mood lately. I think it's quite well written, though!

Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal is a mash up of Pride & Prejudice meets Lollywood. With this change of scenery, Kamal presents not just a retelling of Austen’s classic but, a truly scathing commentary on the current sociopolitical climate (especially as it pertains to women) of less westernized countries like Pakistan. Our heroine, Alys (Alysba Binat), is defiantly feminist & refuses to shrink herself to fit within the confines of the “perfect wife” box that seems to be the be all, end all goal for her contemporaries. As a teacher, she encourages her female students to strive for independence & challenge the status quo. At the tail end of her “marriageable” years, she interacts with a few potential suitors but refuses to settle despite the social stigma that would come with spinsterhood. That is, until she meets a certain, nerve grating Mr. Darsee.
I had a bit of trouble getting into this one at first but ended up really enjoying it. I love learning about other cultures so the juxtaposition of this universally known story over the backdrop of such a specific regional culture was the perfect way to show the social differences. I’m not sure if this book will be marketed as YA or General Fiction but I do recommend it for more secure readers. It has the feeling of a translated document so can be clunky at times and, I imagine a little confusing for a less adept reader. To be fair, the version I read was an advanced, unedited proof so the final cut may be smoothed out a bit more. Either way, I enjoyed this one and finished it feeling like I’d learned a few things & broadened my world view in the process. That adds up to a perfect selection for me!

4.5/5 Upon reading that this was an updated Pakistani version of Pride and Prejudice, I knew that to impress me, it would have to be really good- and I was thoroughly impressed! In some places, such as the pressure to get married, the original aspects of the book worked really well in modern day Pakistan. In other places, such as the food, culture, fashion, etc. the updated parts were whimsical and very fitting to both the original plot and updated setting.

This book is also extremely meta, with characters commenting on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, all while their lives play out in the exact same manner. I mean, you have characters named Alysba Binat and Darsee talking about Elizabeth Bennet and Darcy without ever noticing the similarities in their names! Overall, both a fun and funny read.

I had high hopes for Unmarriageable when I started reading it. However, I quickly became disillusioned with it, for a few reasons. If you want a very strict retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in modern day Pakistan, then Unmarriageable might be right for you. However, it wasn't right for me.

[su_quote style="modern-orange" cite="Goodreads" url=”GOODREADS LINK TO YOUR BOOK"]

In this one-of-a-kind retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in modern-day Pakistan, Alys Binat has sworn never to marry—until an encounter with one Mr. Darsee at a wedding makes her reconsider.

A scandal and vicious rumor concerning the Binat family have 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. Knowing that many of her students won’t make it to graduation before dropping out to marry and have children, Alys teaches them about Jane Austen and her other literary heroes and hopes to inspire the girls to dream of more.

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, the wildly successful—and single—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, the Binats wait breathlessly to see if Jena will land a proposal—and Alys begins to realize that Darsee’s brusque manner may be hiding a very different man from the one she saw at first glance.

Told with wry wit and colorful prose, Unmarriageable is a charming update on Jane Austen’s beloved novel and an exhilaratng exploration of love, marriage, class, and sisterhood. [/su_quote]

I received an eARC of Unmarriageable from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.


Unmarriageable needs trigger warnings for pervasive fatphobia and colorism from nearly every character, sex work antagonistic comments, constant reminders of a character's barrenness using the term "useless uterus," mentions of past trauma, and mentions of acid attacks, rapes, beheadings, etc.

Kamal excelled at creating a beautiful yet realistic view of small-town Pakistan for the readers. The culture and localities that she described made me feel like I was really a part of the story. Unfortunately, if I had been, I would likely have run screaming from every member of the Binat family, the way I would have from a majority of the original’s Bennet family.

Unmarriageable is a very true retelling of the original Pride and Prejudice. You can see the bones of the story in everything that Kamal wrote.

However, where Austen’s characters had redeemable qualities to each of them, even the silliest of the sisters, Kamal’s characters were unbearably cruel to each other. I mentioned this in the trigger warnings, but every single character teased and tormented Qitty for being fat throughout the novel. The only time that this is not mentioned as a negative is when Alys brings some plus size modeling magazines back from Lahore for her. Qitty goes on to get her own fame in the epilogue, but I felt cheated of her growth into something other than ‘the fat sister’ in the narrative. Alys's refusal to lighten her skin is also discussed at length, mostly in negatives.

Nearly every character in this story gets a paragraph of their own in this story, since it's told from a third person omniscient point of view. The only characters who I noticed that didn't get a point of view paragraph or two were Jena and Juju. I think the story would have benefited greatly from the inclusion of their much kinder thoughts.

I also found it difficult to keep up with the many different perspectives that kept being brought in. It really was like changing perspectives every other paragraph, which made it feel like a lot of work to get immersed in the story.

Overall, this story did not work for me. I just didn't like anyone in this book, and that was really disappointing for me. For all of the reasons above, I do not recommend Unmarriageable.

[su_box title="ABOUT UNMARRIAGEABLE" style="default" box_color="#ff4400" title_color="#f2f2f2" radius="3" class=""]

Title: Unmarriageable

Author: Soniah Kamal

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Length: 352 Pages

Release Date: January 22, 2019

Rating: Not Recommended

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Representation: Pakistani author, Pakistani main characters and cast, gay side character, chronically ill side character

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