Cathy C. (cathyskye) - , reviewed on 3/31/2009 + 2309 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

First Line: Of all the guests at Meryton Church that morning, one pretty young woman glowed with unadulterated pride as she watched the proceedings.

Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books. One of those desert island books, if I were the type of person who'd want to spend my time on the island re-reading books. Usually when a book has entered my "pantheon", I stay away from copycats. They usually disappoint, and I don't like putting dings in my plaster walls. (It's an old house, and I don't like to patch plaster.) I did make one very pleasurable exception to my rule: I read Pamela Aidan's Pride and Prejudice trilogy written from Darcy's point of view. I thought they were excellent. So...when I was given the chance to read Pemberley Manor, I decided to take a chance. I'm glad I did.

Nelson begins her novel with the marriage of Jane and Elizabeth to Charles Bingley and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Although most P&P devotees would expect Jane and Charles to go on their blissful way, they would wonder how Darcy and Elizabeth would fare. The answer is...not nearly so blissful. One of the things I always wondered was how Darcy came to be so proud. Nelson's answer to that is: his parents. She creates a whole back story involving the tempestuous marriage of Darcy's mother and father. Another key player in Darcy's childhood is Trevor Handley, a young man Darcy looked up to as an older brother, but who was thrown out of Pemberley under a mysterious cloud. Yet another new character, Robert Alexander from nearby Great Oaks, is introduced as the friend of Darcy's father and the person who may be able to help Darcy put all the pieces together. Even the old gatekeeper, Thomas Hill, helps with his calming influence whenever an overwrought Darcy shows up at his doorstep.

Both old and new characters blend well, and Nelson is adept with her plot and the language since I felt immersed in Regency England. I did have a couple of small problems with the book. Darcy seems to cry at the drop of a hat in Pemberley Manor. He never put me in mind of a man who would do that, so his seemingly constant tears made me raise an eyebrow a time or two. His weeping may be the sign of a touch of twenty-first century sensibilities creeping into the narrative, since everyone reacted so calmly to Trevor Handley's big secret. I doubt everyone would've been that calm and accepting in the Regency time period.

The plot also bogs down from time to time. Parts of it were a hard slog to get through, possibly due to Nelson's attention to every detail. On the whole, however, I did find it easy to set aside my minor complaints and enjoy this book. Nelson took me back to a world and characters that I love. I found her back story very believable, the characters' motivations true to Austen's classic, and the setting close to perfect. All in all, an enjoyable read and a fine addition to the genre.

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