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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
A light and enjoyable read, 17 Jan 2006
I started reading this book expecting to be disappointed. Although I very much enjoyed Pamela Aidan’s trilogy of books in the Fitzwilliam Darcy: Gentleman series, I am well aware there is a huge tract of dreadful material out there which is a follow-up or a retelling of Jane Austen’s story, and I thought it quite likely this would be one of those.How wrong I was! I was relieved to discover very quickly that Amanda Grange knows her subject, knows how to write in a lighthearted and enjoyable way, and I ended up reading the entire book in one sitting. It’s short enough and light enough to do that – the story moves on with more pace than Austen’s book and Elizabeth features in most of the scenes in it, unlike the original. We get more of an insight into their life after their marriage – how the reconciliation with Lady Catherine takes place, and even an engagement between Colonel Fitzwilliam and Anne De Bourgh. I have mentioned Pamela Aidan’s three books, also written from Darcy’s perspective. It’s been interesting to read these two works only a few weeks apart as they couldn’t be more different. Aidan’s books are detailed, things move slowly, most of the action is taking place inside Darcy’s head as we follow his thought processes as he falls in love with Elizabeth. Although in this book, written in the form of Darcy’s diary, we do get some of his thoughts these are not particularly detailed. In some ways it read almost childlike – easy sentences, minimal description, fast-paced. But it worked really well for this book and made it a fun read. The plot device of this being Darcy’s private journal worked reasonably in some ways (it could be written in the first person) but had drawbacks – can anyone seriously imagine a gentleman writing for an hour each evening a diary with verbatim reporting of long conversations? But it was a useful tool upon which to hang the story and worked fairly well. Probably 95% of the dialogue is lifted directly from Jane Austen’s work but Amanda Grange certainly knows how to write in the style of the period as any other dialogue that she inserted worked really well. This was a seamless work which fitted in well and was true to the original. Finally, it has to be said it was a relief to read a book written by an Englishwoman which was therefore bereft of the so-common American mistakes. Such a delight to read a book without a single “gotten”, “fall” (for autumn) and “inquire”. Very picky of me, but I think some of the other books I’ve read have shown a lack of decent editing and research. I certainly recommend this book. I understand Amanda Grange has written at least nine other books. I shall be on the lookout for them now.
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