If Jane Austen had been allowed to write about sex, I'd like to think this is how she would have done it. Rebecca Makkai, author of and "The Hundred-Year House. and " An audaciously entertaining look at love, marriage, and the beloved Bennet family from and "Pride and Prejudice, and " as you've never seen them before . . . and "It is a truth universally acknowledged that every man in possession of a wife must be in want of a son. and " 1785 was to be the most marvelous year of Marianne s life, until an unfortunate turn of events left her in a compromised state and desperate for a husband to care or rather cover for her. Now, she is stuck in an undesirable marriage to Mr. Edward Bennet, a man desperate in his own way for a male heir. But as she is still carrying a smoldering desire for the handsome Colonel Miller, Mrs. Bennet must constantly find new, clever ways to avoid her husband s lascivious advances until she is once again reunited with her dashing Colonel. Except that the best-laid plans of a woman in good standing can so often go awry, especially when her contrary husband has plans and desires of his own . . . and "