chunk: and Mary Crawford much less lively than in Austen's depictions. The largest single change from Austen's own books is that Marianne Dashwood's husband, Colonel Brandon, has died before the book opens. Although the book jacket proclaims that Brinton mixes in "new characters of the author's devising," none of the new characters are of any great importance. Because many of the key characters hail from Pride and Prejudice, some critics treat Old Friends and New Fancies primarily as a sequel to that particular book. Mansfield Park is the next best represented novel in terms of major characters.