Ladies in Waiting (2025), perfectly timed for Jane Austen’s recent 250th birthday, is a charming collection of short stories featuring minor characters from Austen’s novels, such as Miss Bates, Georgiana Darcy, and Eliza Brandon. Modern authors, including Nikki Payne and Adriana Trigiani, contribute stories that imagine these characters in different times and places. I especially loved Trigiani's reimagining of the Bennet family living in a modern-day, crumbling house in NYC's Greenwich Village. Even the much-maligned Lydia Bennet gets a second chance at love with a vicar (after her marriage to Wickham unsurprisingly doesn’t work out). These stories are a real treat for any Jane Austen fan!