The Trouble with Mr. Darcy by Sharon Lathan

April 22, 2015 by Christina

Fiction – print. Sourcebooks, 2011. 344 pgs. Received from PaperBackSwap. I’m beginning to notice a pattern in sequels to Austen’s classic novel: Elizabeth experiences a tragedy during pregnancy, one of the Bennet sisters marries, Georgiana falls in love, Lydia arrives unannounced at a family function, Catherine de Bourgh will criticize Elizabeth, and Wickham hatches a plan to extract revenge upon Darcy that usually involves placing Elizabeth in mortal danger. And Lathan’s book nearly follows this pattern to a T with […]

Categories: 2015 Reads, Austen Inspired, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Sharon Lathan

What Would Mr. Darcy Do? by Abigail Reynolds

October 27, 2014 by Christina

Fiction — print. Sourcebooks Landmark, 2011. 228 pgs. Library copy. Rather than immediately retiring from Elizabeth Bennet’s company as decorum would demand, Darcy remains at the Lambton Inn to offer Elizabeth comfort after she reads Jane’s letter containing the dreadful news of Lydia’s elopement with Wickham. His kind words of understanding become a conversation about Elizabeth’s changed feelings towards him and, finally, a kiss right as the Gardiners return from their walk. Rather than allow society to force Elizabeth into […]

Categories: 2014 Reads, Austen Inspired, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Abigail Reynolds

Jane’s Fame by Claire Harman

October 9, 2014 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Read by Wanda McCaddon. Tantor Media, 2010. 9 hours, 2 minutes. Library copy. While Harman spends the first two chapters of her book on a biography of Jane Austen, seventy-five percent of the book is devoted to analyzing her cultural influence and why people have such strong opinions about the author almost two hundred years after her death. Harman explains the paradox of an academically revered author whose work has served as the inspiration for quote-unquote chick […]

Categories: 2014 Reads, Audiobook, Austen Inspired, Europe, Nonfiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Claire Harman, Wanda McCaddon

The Darcy Cousins by Monica Fairview

June 18, 2014 by Christina

Fiction — print. Sourcebooks Landmark, 2010. 423 pgs. Received from PaperBackSwap. Fitzwilliam and Georgiana Darcy’s cousins, Frederick and Clarissa, arrive from America much to the chagrin of Lady Catherine de Bough, who decides Clarissa is more vexing and brash than Americans normally are. Georgiana, however, is intrigued by her self-confident cousin and quickly becomes Clarissa’s partner-in-crime setting up clandestine meetings between her American cousin and her de Bough cousin so Clarissa can help squirrel Anne out from under her mother’s […]

Categories: 2014 Reads, Austen Inspired, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Monica Fairview

Mr. Darcy’s Obsession by Abigail Reynolds

May 19, 2014 by Christina

Fiction — eBook. Sourcebooks Landmark, 2010. 348 pgs. Library copy. What if Mr. Darcy was unable to purpose to Elizabeth Bennet at Rosings? The sudden death of Mr. Bennet changes the course of all their lives as Jane marries an older merchant to help secure her family after Mr. Collins inherits Longbourne, Elizabeth moves to London, and Kitty never meets Wickham again. Dependent upon the Gardners’ charity, Elizabeth helps with their young children taking the brood for walks and serving […]

Categories: 2014 Reads, Austen Inspired, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Abigail Reynolds

Georgiana Darcy’s Diary by Anna Elliott

May 7, 2014 by Christina

Fiction — Kidle edition. Amazon, 2011. 236 pgs. Free download. Elliott’s novel picks up Austen’s classic novel changing the narrator to Darcy’s shy sister, Georgiana, and setting the story in 1814 after the marriage of Darcy and Elizabeth, Bingley and Jane. The constant reminders of Darcy and Elizabeth’s happiness persuades Georgiana to reconsider her notions of love and marriage, to stop assuming that all men will lie and use her like Wickham once tried, but she mourns the fact that […]

Categories: 2014 Reads, Austen Inspired, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: anne elliott

Longbourn by Jo Baker

January 10, 2014 by Christina

Fiction — Large print. Random House, 2013. 560 pgs. Library copy. If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats, Sarah often thought, she’d most likely be a sight more careful with them. The title of this book was what moved it from the shelf into my hand, but this line from the back cover was what moved this book from my hand into my growing pile of library books. I was so excited to find a book imagining […]

Categories: 2014 Reads, Austen Inspired, Chunkster, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Jo Baker

Pemberley Manor by Kathryn L. Nelson

May 22, 2013 by Christina

Fiction — print. Sourcebooks, 2006. 456 pgs. Received from PaperBackSwap. According to GoodReads, I tried to read this book in June of 2011 and abandoned it. I suppose I forgot that little detail when I requested it off of PaperBackSwap and then packed it as my only reading material for the two flights home. Whoops. Within the first fifty pages, it was obvious to me as to why I decided to give up on the book in the first place. […]

Categories: 2013 Reads, Austen Inspired, Chunkster, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Kathryn L. Nelson

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

February 19, 2013 by Christina

Fiction — print. Plume, 2005. 288 pgs. Purchased. My mother picked me a copy of Fowler’s novel at the public library’s used book sale last fall. (I’ve given her a blanket instruction to purchase all Austen-related novels she comes across.) She called to tell me about it, and I told her that I had already read the book. It wasn’t till I returned home in December that I got the feeling that I hadn’t actually read Fowler’s book. Now, having […]

Categories: 2013 Reads, Austen Inspired, Fiction, North America, United States • Tags: Karen Joy Fowler

Mrs. Darcy’s Dilemma by Diana Birchall

August 8, 2012 by Christina

Fiction — print. Egerton House, 2004. 235 pgs. Received from PaperBackSwap. Twenty-five years after her marriage, Elizabeth is now consumed with the affairs of her children. Her eldest son, Fitzwilliam, is not the heir she and Darcy had hoped for, and both would rather dote on Henry the middle child and their youngest Jane than connect with their eldest son. The arrival of two of Elizabeth’s nieces, Bettina and Cloe Wickham, further complicates their relationship with their eldest son, particularly […]

Categories: 2012 Reads, Austen Inspired, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Diana Birchall

Without Reserve by Abigail Reynolds

July 30, 2012 by Christina

Fiction — print. Intertidal Press, 2007. 204 pgs. Received from PaperBackSwap. Reynolds is one of my go-to authors for variations and sequels to Austen’s beloved classic. This variations asks what would have happened if Fritzwilliam Darcy faced a true rival for Elizabeth Bennet’s affections. Austen gives us Wickham and Colonel Fritzwillaim; Reynolds gives us Mr. Covington, a neighbor who offers Elizabeth a comfortable home with an agreeable man. Elizabeth agrees to the engagement after her return from Kent, after her […]

Categories: 2012 Reads, Austen Inspired, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Abigail Reynolds

Pemberley Remembered by Mary Lydon Simonsen

May 31, 2012 by Christina

Fiction — print. TRC Castle Garden Publishing, 2007. 444 pgs. Received from PaperBackSwap. During a visit to an eighteenth-century Georgian country home located in Derbyshire named Montclair, Maggie Joyce is told that the former owners of Montclair, William Lacey and Elizabeth Garrison, were the inspiration for Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet while Montclair inspired Darcy’s beautiful home, Pemberley. As a twenty-two-year-old American living in postwar London, Maggie  is on a quest to see as much of England as she possibly […]

Categories: 2012 Reads, Austen Inspired, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Mary Lydon Simonsen