These Three Remain: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman: 3 [Paperback]

This is the third instalment in Pamela Aidan’s reworking of Pride & Prejudice from Darcy’s point of view and overall I’d say it was a great success. It’s impressive that she is able to extract so much information from Austen’s story and retell it in a fresh way. Also interesting that a woman is writing a man’s point of view – as a woman myself I can’t tell how realistic it is, but it seemed to ring true to me.

The additional characters that Aidan introduced in the previous two books appear again, particularly Lord Dyfed Brougham who is a well-rounded and interesting character. Perhaps his secret life is a bit unrealistic, as is the sub-plot about treason and the weird Sylvanie that rather spoiled Book 2: Duty And Desire for me, but if you gloss over those aspects and stick with the main story it’s an enjoyable read.

Despite being a much thicker book than the previous two volumes it doesn’t feel laboured and drawn out. In fact, I would level the small criticism that the end comes rather too soon – much time has been spent setting the scene and the betrothal seems to happen with less reflection than all the other events in the books so far.

There are a number of loose ends, having read this book, which leads me to suspect Aidan has more books in store. The loose ends are about her extra characters – the Dy/Georgiana semi-romance (will anything happen – when she is older, of course); the treasonous exploits of Lady Sylvanie and her band of Irish followers; Dy’s involvement in spying; Georgiana’s excessive religiosity and what this means for her. I suspect a book about Dy and Georgiana is at least on the cards and I, for one, will be buying it.

At certain times when reading the book I wondered whether Aidan had written it after seeing the BBC DVD adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. There were a number of small events in the TV series which seemed to be reflected here, such as Darcy trying to cure himself of his hurt at the rejection of his hand in marriage by Miss Bennet through fencing. I thought this worked very well into the story but it did serve to ground the story into those actors (good though they were); this would only really be the case for those who were very familiar with Austen’s original so were aware what was outside of that work but was both in the TV series and this book.

As in books 1 & 2, however, there are some unfortunate Americanisms that have crept in and should have been spotted by an editor. Autumn has become “fall”, people “inquire” rather than “enquire”, “insure” where it should be rendered “ensure”, the wretched appearance of “gotten” numerous times, “pled” instead of “pleaded”, “normalcy” rather than “normality” and Lady Catherine is moved to “write his Lordship” rather than to “write to his Lordship”. These American words and turns of phrase jar when read by an English person and are a disappointment when so many other period details are right. I was relieved, for example, that Mr Darcy spread jam on his toast rather than jelly, but because of the earlier Americanisms I found myself noticing this correct usage and once again it took me, however briefly, out of the story. A side note – although this is an American-published book by an American author, the spelling is generally English in words such as “favourite” or “endeavour”, which is a real relief! Still, the random appearance of comments about Americans/Bostonians was yet another annoyance for an English Regency reader – why does every single American Regency writer insist on mentioning America?

Overall I enjoyed the book although I think the initial promise of Book 1: An Assembly Such As This was not realised as much as I had hoped in the two further volumes, although this one is better than Book 2. All in all I am impressed by Aidan’s grasp of the story and her own slant on it, although I feel that she is most successful when sticking to Austen’s original plotlines and that those made anew for this story are less convincing. But still a good read and streets ahead of an awful lot of other Pride & Prejudice derivative fiction.

I've read all three of the books in this series based on recommendations from other Pride and Prejudice fans, and would heartily recommend it if you've ever longed to see the events of the story through Mr Darcy's eyes.
I must admit to having approached this series with some trepidation, knowing that many so-called Jane Austen sequels, or versions of the original told from another perspective are complete rubbish, and offend the sensibilities of non-purists and purists alike. Have no such fears about this series, which is not a sequel, but rather the original P & P story told from Mr Darcy's point of view.
I began to read it with a jaundiced eye, expecting to find it riddled with Americanisms (the author is American)and unintentional comical slip-ups but found myself (mostly) pleasantly surprised. Ms Aidan has evidently done her historical research, and I found it in places a rollicking Regency romp, and at other times a sympathetic and moving analysis of Mr Darcy's feelings and motivations, all related in an absorbing style that keeps your attention throughout. To her credit Ms Aidan never completely departs from the true essence of JA's original characters, in fact she introduces some new, well-imagined characters of her own for Darcy to interact with. They inject some additional "oomph" to the story, prevent it being too "dry" and help to fill in some of the blanks in the original tale. I particularly liked the Shakespeare - quoting valet Fletcher, and especially the 'Scarlet Pimpernel - type' character of Dy Brougham who flits in and out of the narrative.
The latter deserves a book of his own!
Part II of the series is a bit of a romp in the second half of the book (suspend your disbelief, all you Janeites).Take it as it's meant to be - a pastiche of the popular Gothic romances of JA's time - it's a hoot! However,I did get a little concerned in the first half that Georgiana was starting to 'get religion' in a big way, and go all "worthy" on us (and desperately dull - yawn!) but fortunately, the religious references were kept mercifully brief and probably fitted in reasonably with the historical period in which the book is set. As someone else has already stated in the reviews of Book II, this bit was probably influenced by the author's own religious views. However, from an English reader point of view, it's a wee bit cringe-making - not the kind of thing a British writer would have included in a novel of this type, I think!
Even Jane Austen herself kept off the subject of religion - it's just not a British thing!! This is just a cultural difference between us and Americans, I suppose (aside from all the language differences!).
Part III does however get back on track of the original narrative. If I have any other criticism of the series, then it's one that will only be of notice or concern to UK readers - unfortunately, the author has used American spellings, and occasionally the odd bit of US vocabulary and grammar sneaks in, which I found a little jarring and distracting, and which I think spoils the "authenticity" of it a little. For example, she has an English character refer to the "fall" - (i.e "autumn" to us Brits) and another part in Book II where a few characters in one scene "dove" in all directions to avoid an incident (aargh! - it's "dived" in proper English!) There are also several other examples where she has been a little lazy in not getting it perfectly correct - Ms Aidan, get a UK proof reader to look at Vol.4 before you publish!! However, being realistic, I know mine to be a relatively minor grumble in the greater scheme of things, and no doubt her US readers(who probably make up the vast majority of her readership) notice nothing amiss; but I think they are still being rather shortchanged if the author is seriously trying to emulate Jane Austen in any kind of way!
Despite all this, I still think that overall it's a darn good read, and I thoroughly recommend all 3 books to you all.

As I concur with most comments by "Speedy Reader 2" I'd just like to add some further remarks:

* First and foremost, Ms Aidans books taught me to pay closer attention to the original text than I did before: The ways she lets Darcy react to Elizabeth catches nuances and undercurrents in E's dialogue that I had missed before. This holds especially true for Vol. 1.

* Using Darcy's point of view throughout is a nice touch; as an example, he never learns about Mr Collins's proposal to E.

* The fact that Aidan's books are fully centered on Darcy makes the grave and sometimes ponderous prose somewhat more understandable and palatable.

* It is a pity that the trilogy ends with a glaring mistake: the wedding of Darcy and Elizabeth - only. The '95 film from which Ms Aidan borrows so liberally has got it right; there is a double marriage - quoting from Austen: "Happy ... was the day on which Mrs Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters."

Nevertheless, all in all I can promise afficionades some pleasurable hours of reading.