What will get young people reading classic literature? Better blurbs? Changes in the school curriculum? Flashy new biographies of dead authors? Or might it be pastel pink covers emblazoned with characters that look as if they just got back from Comic-Con?
Publisher Penguin Random House (PRH) is trying its luck with the latter: its youth imprint, Puffin, has announced a series of new editions of Jane Austen novels pitched at young romance readers. Although Austen’s stories will remain the same, the covers of these editions feature cartoonish illustrations of the characters, and are being marketed as “full of meet-cutes, missed connections and drama”. This description makes it sound as if these classic works are akin to the kind of contemporary romance novels that are hugely popular on TikTok with teenagers and young adults.
