Elizabeth would never admit that woman was really her mother... Two months after Elizabeth was born, Mr. Bennet discovered Mrs. Bennet in the midst of an affair with her father's clerk. And two nights later, the woman who had been his wife fled north with her lover and Jane, tearfully leaving behind little Elizabeth with Mr. Bennet.Mr. Bennet dedicated his life to raising Elizabeth the best he could. He loved her. Mr. Bennet had loved Elizabeth, far more than he ever loved Jane, from the first time he picked his little girl up and she grabbed at his sideburns.When the new tenant of Netherfield arrived in the neighborhood, Elizabeth began to fall in love with the mind and thoughtful frowns of his friend, Mr. Darcy. He made her heart flutter. But what will happen when Elizabeth's long departed mother returns with her sister Jane to Meryton after being absent for twenty years?A heartwarming and romantic novel about true family and love from the author of Mr. Collins's Widow.
* * New cover - content unchanged * * When Colonel Fitzwilliam's disclosures are interrupted by the bearer of distressing news from Longbourn, Miss Elizabeth Bennet is compelled to accept an offer she would have otherwise dismissed out of hand. An offer of marriage from the all-too-proud Mr Darcy. Yet how is she to live with a husband she hardly knows and does not love? Will she continue to feel trapped in a marriage of convenience while events conspire to divide them? Or would love grow as, day by day and hour after hour, she learns to understand the man she married, before she loses his trust and his heart? Given the 'early marriage' premise, the issue of growing affection and intimacy is central to the story. The relevant scenes are not graphic, but the novel does address mature themes. Excerpt from 'Mr Bennet's Dutiful Daughter' - a journey from duty into love. His hand came up to cup her cheek, his fingertips stroked her hair and he smiled again. A heartbreakingly warm smile. "There is so much I do not know of you. What joy it will be to discover." "And I of you. It was quite a surprise to hear you were contemplating kissing me as far back as November." "I should have. What a foolish waste of five months of happiness." "I am very glad I make you happy," she said quietly, and found with some surprise that she was in earnest. "You know you do. More than I ever thought possible," Mr Darcy whispered hoarsely and reached to lift her off the sofa and bring her close, ensconced in a tight embrace. Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his neck, abandoning herself to his kisses, only to find guilt welling afresh when his lips left her skin just for long enough to whisper, "My love, you are everything." 'Do not say it, oh, do not say it!' she felt the strongest urge to caution him. 'Do not give me so much power over you.' How unspeakably odd it felt to hear him openly avow it, after his reserve of full six months' standing. It was as if everything he had held in check was now offered without hesitation, unstoppably coming out in one rush after another, now that all reason for concealment was removed. It was overwhelming to discover that all this wealth of feeling had been there for so long, and she had noticed nothing. Her heart twisted in sudden compassion - the last sentiment she had imagined Mr Darcy would inspire in her, and for the least expected reason. Did he not see it was dreadfully unwise to reveal quite so much of himself to her? That it would make him vulnerable in the extreme and put him in the greatest danger, were she so heartless as to use it against him? Surely he did not think her equally in love, to trust her so implicitly with every formerly hidden feeling! What blow must it be to him, were the truth of her deep-held reservations ever to come to light. What burden of responsibility on her, to carefully conceal it from so astute a man. Unspeakably odd too that she should fret so much over sparing Mr Darcy's feelings, after spending months with the firm conviction he had none. Not for her, nor for the world in general. How aptly he had put it, all that time ago, when he had remarked that her greatest fault was her propensity to wilfully misunderstand...
For fans of Pride and Prejudice and Jane Austen devotees everywhere, a charming and delightful novel for anyone who has ever wondered what the Darcy children might be like. Picking up twenty years after Pride and Prejudice left off, Mr. Darcy's Daughters begins in the year 1818. Elizabeth and Darcy have gone to Constantinople, giving us an opportunity to get to know their five daughters, who have left the sheltered surroundings of Pemberley for a few months in London. While the eldest, Letitia, frets and the youngest, Alethea, practices her music, twins Georgina and Belle flirt and frolic their way through parties and balls, while Camilla—levelheaded and independent—discovers what joys and sorrows the city has to offer an intelligent young woman. Readers will delight in the return of such beloved Austen creations as Elizabeth's old nemesis Caroline Bingley (now Lady Warren), the ever-reliable Gardiners, and wayward Aunt Lydia. Charming, beautifully written, and full of societal intrigue and romantic high jinks, Mr. Darcy's Daughters is a tale that would please Austen herself.
England, 1813. Nineteen-year-old Catherine Bennet lives in the shadow of her two eldest sisters, Elizabeth and Jane, who have both made excellent marriages. No one expects Kitty to amount to anything. Left at home in rural Hertfordshire with her neurotic and nagging mother, and a father who derides her as "e;silly and ignorant,"e; Kitty is lonely, diffident and at a loss as to how to improve her situation. When her world unexpectedly expands to London and the Darcy's magnificent country estate in Derbyshire, she is overjoyed. Keen to impress this new society, and to change her family's prejudice, Kitty does everything she can to improve her mind and manners-and for the first time feels liked and respected. However, one fateful night at Pemberley, a series of events and misunderstandings conspire to ruin Kitty's reputation. Accused of theft-a crime almost worse than murder among the Georgian aristocracy-she is sent back home in disgrace. But Kitty has learnt from her new experiences and what she does next does next will not only surprise herself, but everyone else too.
A NPR CONCIERGE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR "Jane fans rejoice! . . . Exceptional storytelling and a true delight." —Helen Simonson, author of the New York Times bestselling novels Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and The Summer Before the War Mary, the bookish ugly duckling of Pride and Prejudice’s five Bennet sisters, emerges from the shadows and transforms into a desired woman with choices of her own. What if Mary Bennet’s life took a different path from that laid out for her in Pride and Prejudice? What if the frustrated intellectual of the Bennet family, the marginalized middle daughter, the plain girl who takes refuge in her books, eventually found the fulfillment enjoyed by her prettier, more confident sisters? This is the plot of Janice Hadlow's The Other Bennet Sister, a debut novel with exactly the affection and authority to satisfy Jane Austen fans. Ultimately, Mary’s journey is like that taken by every Austen heroine. She learns that she can only expect joy when she has accepted who she really is. She must throw off the false expectations and wrong ideas that have combined to obscure her true nature and prevented her from what makes her happy. Only when she undergoes this evolution does she have a chance at finding fulfillment; only then does she have the clarity to recognize her partner when he presents himself—and only at that moment is she genuinely worthy of love. Mary’s destiny diverges from that of her sisters. It does not involve broad acres or landed gentry. But it does include a man; and, as in all Austen novels, Mary must decide whether he is the truly the one for her. In The Other Bennet Sister, Mary is a fully rounded character—complex, conflicted, and often uncertain; but also vulnerable, supremely sympathetic, and ultimately the protagonist of an uncommonly satisfying debut novel.
"Those with a taste for the balance and humour of Austen will find a worthy companion volume."—Book News The weddings are over. The guests (including millions of readers and viewers) wish the two happy couples health and happiness. As the music swells and the credits roll, two things are certain: Jane and Bingley will want for nothing, while Elizabeth and Darcy are to be the happiest couple in the world! The couples' personal stories of love, marriage, money, and children are woven together with the threads of social and political history of nineteenth century England. As changes in industry and agriculture affect the people of Pemberley and the neighboring countryside, the Darcys strive to be progressive and forward-looking while upholding beloved traditions. Rebecca Ann Collins follows them in imagination, observing and chronicling their passage through the landscape of their surroundings, noting how they cope with change, triumph, and tragedy in their lives. "A lovely complementary novel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Austen would surely give her smile of approval." —Beverly Wong, author of Pride & Prejudice Prudence
Pride and Prejudice's Mary Bennet gets her own story... The third of five daughters, Miss Mary Bennet is a rather unremarkable girl. With her countenance being somewhere between plain and pretty and in possession of no great accomplishments, few expect the third Bennet daughter to attract a respectable man. But although she is shy and would much prefer to keep her nose stuck in a book, Mary is uncertain she wants to meekly follow the path to spinsterhood set before her. Determined that Mary should have a chance at happiness, the elder Bennet sisters concoct a plan. Lizzy invites Mary to visit at Pemberley, hoping to give her sister a place to grow and make new acquaintances. But it is only when Mary strikes out independently that she can attempt to become accomplished in her own right. And in a family renowned for its remarkable Misses, Mary Bennet may turn out to be the most wholly unexpected of them all...
In Who Betrays Elizabeth Bennet? John Sutherland unravels 34 literary puzzles in a sequel to his bestselling works Is Heathcliff a Murderer? and Can Jane Eyre Be Happy?. As well as exploring new conundrums Professor Sutherland revisits some previous puzzles with the help of readers who offertheir own ingenious solutions, and set fresh posers for investigation. Victorian drug habits, railway systems, sanitation and dentistry are only a few of the areas that shed light on the motives and circumstances of some of literature's most famous characters: Elizabeth Bennet, Betsey Trotwood, Count Dracula, Anna Karenina, Alice and many more come under the spotlightin John Sutherland's highly entertaining collection. 'Sutherland puts humanity and the human, logic and curiosity, back into criticism . . . His respect for the realism of texts inspires, inspirits and delights.' Valentine Cunningham
Eileen Spring presents a fresh interpretation of the history of inheritance among the English gentry and aristocracy. In a work that recasts both the history of real property law and the history of the family, she finds that one of the principal and determinative features of upper-class real property inheritance was the exclusion of females. This exclusion was accomplished by a series of legal devices designed to nullify the common-law rules of inheritance under which--had they prevailed--40 percent of English land would have been inherited or held by women. Current ideas of family development portray female inheritance as increasing in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but Spring argues that this is a misperception, resulting from an incomplete consideration of the common-law rules. Female rights actually declined, reaching their nadir in the eighteenth century. Spring shows that there was a centuries-long conflict between male and female heirs, a conflict that has not been adequately recognized until now.
"Nobody turned my head with compliments. Nobody asked me to dance." An elegant accompaniment to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Jennifer Paynter's The Forgotten Sister plucks the neglected Mary from obscurity and reveals her hopes and fears. Mary Bennet spends much of her time apart from her family, closeted in her room reading or playing her music, studying hard for accomplishments. As her four sisters become absorbed in their own romantic dramas, Mary stands apart, believing herself "not pretty enough" to dance with. She watches while Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley--and Mr. Wickham--waltz into her sisters' lives, judging all three gentlemen quite dispassionately (and as it turns out, accurately). But Mary may not be quite so clear-sighted when she finally falls in love herself. She will first have to overcome her own brand of "pride and prejudice."
