New feature - Fan Fiction - Fans of Jane Austen's novels hate to see her stories come to an end. Because of that, there is a whole new body of work known as Jane Austen Fan Fiction. Austen enthusiasts write continuations of her stories or create new ones using her characters. My first contribution appears on this website under "Austen Fan Fiction." I hope you enjoy it. If you do, please post a comment at www.pemberleyremembered.blogspot.com. Thanks. Mary
Review from The Long and Short Of It Reviews
For anyone who is a lover of Jane Austen’s works, and in particular Pride and Prejudice, Pemberley Remembered is a must read. Ms. Simonsen, in her debut novel, has captured not only the essence of Austen’s work, but has brought a rare talent for weaving historical tales together and making the reader feel as if she is right there. There were times during my reading of this story I would find myself forgetting that the characters of P&P, as well as the characters in this book, are fictional.
The research and detail that has gone into Pemberley Remembered is evident and the intertwining of the three love stories is masterfully done. I throroughly enjoyed this outing. It is truly a book that is well worth reading more than once, if only because there is so much richness in the book, you can’t grasp it all in one sitting. It is truly something to be savored. For that reason, I give this novel five books. Reviewed by Rose for The Long and Short of It. For complete review, please visit: http://www.longandshortreviews.com/LASR/0708/PemberleyRemembered-MS.htm
Sir Wm. Lucas Encourages Darcy to Dance
Maggie Joyce, a 22-year old American, arrives in London in the summer of 1947. Although the war has been over for two years, the British are still recovering from six long years of war. Despite continued rationing and evidence of the destruction caused by German bombs, Maggie, who grew up in a Pennsylvania coal town, is delighted to be living in one of the great capitals of the world. After weeks of touring the sights in London, Maggie visits Montclair, an 18th Century Georgian country house located in the Peak District of Derbyshire, because she has been told that the former residents of the mansion, William Lacey and Elizabeth Garrison, were the inspiration for the characters of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s masterpiece, Pride & Prejudice, and that Montclair is the novel’s Pemberley.
During her visit to the nearby Village of Crofton, Maggie meets Beth and Jack Crowell, both of whom have ties to the Lacey family and Montclair, and who know if the legends associated with the house and Fitzwilliam Darcy are true. Maggie is befriended by the Crowells, and they share stories of the real people who inspired the Darcys, the Bennet sisters, Lady Catherine De Bourgh, and many of the other memorable characters portrayed in Pride and Prejudice. As their friendship matures, the Crowells reveal the devastating impact that the First World War had on their families—effects that are still being felt 30 years later.
While learning about the romance of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, Maggie falls in love with Rob McAllister, an American who served as a navigator on a B-17 heavy bomber and who flew 30 missions over Nazi Germany. The effects of seeing planes being shot down or burst into flames is seared into his memory, and he chooses to return to Britain to live among those who have endured so much and understand his loss. Although Rob and Maggie are deeply in love, Rob’s wartime experiences have left him with a reluctance to make any decision that affects anyone other than himself, and that reluctance has consequences for his relationship with Maggie.
*Sketch is courtesy of www.austenfans.com.
If you wish to read more articles and reviews or to contact me, please visit my blog at www.pemberleyremembered.blogspot.com.