Lee Welch has done a beautiful job of telling not just a moving, but also a realistic story of queer love perfectly ensconced within the world of Austen. Her characterization of Mr Collins’ inner world remakes him into a nuanced, brave individual, but one who still fits perfectly within the obsequious rector that Austen created. Welch has done nothing to change Austen. She just takes Mr Collins seriously, and in doing so she has opened a book within the book. This is rare, particularly when telling a queer adaptation of a classic. Welch’s Mr Collins, his neurodivergence, and his quiet love story, all breathe easily and naturally in Austen’s world, and in the history of the period. She requires no suspension of disbelief, as is common in queer historical fiction.
Welch has also attained the goal of the best adaptations – she convinces her reader to see Mr Collins as she does. It is not that Austen is wrong about him, simply that the story from his perspective looks different. She manages to make her reader sympathetic to and protective of a man who’s canonized for his inane line about “excellent boiled potatoes.”
Finally, a word to the narrator, who has done a masterful job. He captures the Mr Collins’ sincerity, his panic, his pomposity perfectly. He does a similarly excellent job with Jem.