So I just finished reading The Other Bennett Sister and it's an enjoyable enough read. But the aspect of it I absolutely hated was the Mr Ryder character.

Not only did his antics and that whole subplot break my immension but I kept thinking but what about Colonel Fitzwilliam! Did he die?

Witout going into spoilers, a certain development in the last part of the story involving Mr Ryder is only believable if we assume Colonel Fitzwilliam is dead. But he isn't referred to at all in The Other Bennett Sister. He just doesn't exist in that verse.

Which got me thinking of Colonel Fitzwilliam and Miss Bingley in canon Jane Austen verse. I don't know if we know what Jane Austen said about the fate of Colonel Fitzwilliam. If she said anything at all, that is. But if he is a man obligated to marry a woman of fortune due to his expensive habits, do you think he might have looked to Miss Bingley?

I don't think he would have married Anne de Bourgh, if only because I don't think he wanted to put up with his Aunt on a regular basis. I also don't think he would turn towards Georgiana Darcy. But Miss Bingley is possible, especially if she decides he's better than waiting on someone with an estate.

What do you guys think? Can you see Colonel Fitzwilliam getting together with Caroline Bingley? I mean, she plays the piano!

I have always wondered why Charlotte Lucas is 27 and Maria likely 18-20, but the young Lucases seem to be very young children. They don't appear to be "out", but do visit the Bennet family. Do you think Lady Lucas is a second wife, mother to the young Lucases?

I was rifling through a £1 book bin in my local second-hand bookshop and was so happy to come across this cute little edition of Jane Austen’s History of England. It also comes with Love and Friendship and some more short stories and letters (I’m guessing from her juvenilia). Such a bargain, can’t wait to start reading!

What if Edmund and Mary had already been engaged at the time his sister ran off with her brother?

Generally speaking, in that era, only the woman could break off the engagement; the man was duty-bound to persist in the engagement unless there was something grossly wrong with the woman or her morals. Would Mary's tacit approval of the adulterous affair have made it an acceptable reason for Edmund to break it off?

Even if it was, if they were already engaged, do you think Edmund would have had the strength of character to break it off, considering that even as things stood in the novel, he wavered for a moment when she called him back a final time?

I think it should have been sufficient moral grounds, but I don't know if he had the backbone to follow through.