THE GIRL FROM SUMMER HILL

Kicking off a new series set in Summer Hill, Virginia, the New York Times bestselling author brings Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to the theater—and into the 21st century.

Acacia “Casey” Reddick doesn’t know she's renting her guesthouse from movie star Tate Landers until he shows up naked in her outdoor shower. Casey, who hasn’t seen any of his movies, thinks Tate is trespassing; Tate, who's usually “cast as a shirtless guy who throws women across his shoulder,” mistakes Casey for a peeping, star-struck fan. When they're both cast in a stage production of Pride and Prejudice, they continue their feud as Lizzy Bennett and Mr. Darcy. The chapters are divided into acts and scenes that follow the arc of the original story without necessarily sticking to the script—a device that offers a bounty of ways for Casey and Tate to spar onstage while wearing period costumes and offstage while wearing nothing at all. With all the modern updates—Casey and her half siblings were fathered by the same sperm donor—there are also tongue-in-cheek laments about dating “metrosexuals” while fantasizing about a hero who “throws women over the saddle of a horse and tells them to shut up.” The highlight is Tate’s conniving ex-brother-in-law, Devlin Haines, who fully embodies his role as Mr. Wickham when he lies to Casey about Tate and seduces a young cast member. Thankfully, advancements in women’s rights have made 21st-century America a better setting than Regency England for comeuppance—and redemption—when all is revealed.

A steamy and delightfully outlandish retelling of a literary classic.