Sunday 25 June 2017

Conceit & Concealment by Abigail Reynolds - My Review

Book cover: Conceit & Concealment by Abigail Reynolds
Recently author Abigail Reynolds visited my blog with a guest post and giveaway of 'Conceit & Concealment', her latest 'Pride & Prejudice' variation. I was provided with copy to read and review, so read on to see what I think of the book and whether I'd recommend adding it to your 'To Be Read' list.

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Like many other people, I was very excited to hear that Abigail Reynolds had a new book out. Often her variations have a small change in the events of ‘Pride & Prejudice’, which can cause the whole story to go down a new road, but with ‘Conceit & Concealment’ it’s a change which happens before the events of ‘P&P’ begin, and one which would be very far reaching.

At the time that ‘Pride & Prejudice’ was set, Britain had been at war with France for some years. As we know, Napoleon’s army successfully invaded many places and in this change from canon, Britain has been successfully invaded and is now occupied by the French. Obviously this would have had an effect on every Briton, but how specifically might it affect the story of Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy?

Well, firstly the French have requisitioned property and wealth from many of the gentry. The Bennets are lucky enough to be living at Longbourn, but that is after being evicted and only returned due to Lydia allying herself with an officer; Lydia’s liking for officers actually had the effect of saving her family rather than endangering them in these circumstances!

What of the Bennets’ other daughters? With huge difficulties in being able to deny the French soldiers anything that they may take a liking to Mr Bennet initially sent his eldest daughters away, but since their return has had to take drastic measures to protect beautiful Jane from being forced into marriage. Elizabeth has so far managed not to excite too much interest, partly due to her frigid manner towards them. Elizabeth heartily hates the French invaders, and despises those landowners who have welcomed the French in order to keep their estates.

Now, just such a man has entered the neighbourhood. Mr Bingley (who has been allowed to keep his fortune as it was derived honourably from trade) has come to stay at Netherfield with a member of the landed gentry, Mr Darcy, and that gentleman’s sister, who he never allows far from his side. In Elizabeth’s eyes Darcy is a traitor, so it’s unfortunate that, as she begins to know him, she finds that he has many admirable qualities.
‘It simply wasn’t fair. Elizabeth did not want to like Mr. Darcy. How could she like a man who put his own wealth and possessions before his love of his country? True, he had been far from the only man to do so, but she was prepared to hate every last one of them.’
But the man who may have said in other circumstances “disguise of every sort is my abhorrence” is keeping a very big secret and putting up a false front.  Although Darcy appears to be a supporter of the French in fact he is nothing of the sort and has had to subjugate his feelings for the good of his country.
‘He had plenty of practice at false stories, after all. Once upon a time, disguise of every sort had been his abhorrence. Now he could hardly recall when he had not worn a disguise.’
It’s easy enough for Elizabeth to say what she’d do if she were a man and able to do something against the French when she’s in the comfort of her home. But when push comes to shove, what would she be willing to sacrifice for the good of her country?

This was such a departure from the usual. Elizabeth was prejudiced against Darcy, but for entirely different reasons than usual. As in canon, she also makes misjudgements on character, failing to see beyond the black and white of somebody’s character and realising that there are shades. So in P&P she learns that a proud person isn’t necessarily cast in one mould, and in this she learns that enemies can have good characteristics just as countrymen can have negatives. I liked that she still made this development. Darcy had less pride, or rather, he’d had to subjugate his pride, as many men of his class would look on him as a traitor, but he had selflessly put the needs of others such as his sister and his tenants before his own since taking on guardianship of Georgiana and the management of the Pemberley estate from his father and was ready to sacrifice his whole future for it.
‘Sometimes he wondered if a clean death in battle would not have been preferable. But Georgiana needed him, so that was not an option.’
I am not always a big fan of high drama, I have to be in the mood for it as I don’t like things to stretch believability too much, but the fact that this book has a bit of a ‘Résistance’ theme to it makes high drama much more realistic than in a more normalised setting. Abigail visited my blog recently with a post regarding ‘the black moment’, a moment to add drama and excitement to a story. This one has one of these moments, and then one that I found much worse, although I trusted that Abigail would bring things to a satisfactory conclusion.

But what about the romance, I hear you ask? And page time together for Darcy and Elizabeth? Well, their meeting was absolutely adorable (before she knew who he was), and I loved how they both fought their feelings for each other, though for different reasons. There is quite a bit of action in this story, so in places it felt Heyer-ish rather than Austen-ish, due to the difference in action levels and type. There are no sex scenes in this book, but being an Abigail Reynolds book there is plenty of romance, with a bit of heat to it. As the action moves from Hertfordshire to London both of our main characters get a lot of time together, which I enjoyed.

There are some good new characters too, such as Darcy’s aunt (not Lady Catherine, Colonel Fitzwilliam’s mother) and a brother. I also enjoyed the inclusion of some historical characters. There is an Author's Note at the end which puts some historical context around the story, which I always like. Do not skip ahead and read this though, as it contains spoilers, there's a reason it's at the end!

I was a little surprised by how many people got let in on Darcy’s big secret though, which had been known by barely any people for years and once he told one person it seemed that everybody was finding out. Having said that though, it wasn’t out of place with events happening around the characters.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. I really enjoyed it and read it in one sitting. It gets five stars from me.
5 star read

*Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from the author, for my honest review.

You can buy ‘Conceit & Concealment’ now at Amazon US / Amazon UK  and other places.

Also, Sourcebooks, which publish some of Abigail Reynolds’ ‘Pemberley Variations’ books, is having a summer sale that includes some of her titles, so if your kindle is light on books by Abigail now is the time to bag some bargains. I think only two of them are reduced in the UK, but in the US there seem to be more which have dropped in price. Details can be found on Sourcebooks website, scroll to the bottom of the page for details.

US readers, you can enter a giveaway on Goodreads for a paperback of the book - enter by 5 July.

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18 comments:

  1. Ceri,

    I'm glad that you enjoyed this story so much!
    I've read great things about it and can't wait to read it. 😌
    I agree that Darcy and Elizabeth's initial meeting was wonderfully written and indeed very romantic......such a pity their feelings changed when they discovered more about who they had met!

    I read some of the chapters online and can't wait to find out the black moment that Abigail mentioned in your blog,some weeks ago,and see how everything is happily resolved!! 😊

    Loved this post and I really enjoyed reading your thoughts!
    Happy reading Ceri.

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    1. Thank you for commenting, Mary, I hope you enjoy the book when you read it.

      I'm glad you enjoyed Darcy and Elizabeth's first meeting too. An excerpt of this delicious moment was posted on Diary of an Eccentric, for anybody else who'd like to enjoy Queen Titania meeting Theophilus Thistle: https://diaryofaneccentric.wordpress.com/2017/06/20/excerpt-giveaway-conceit-concealment-by-abigail-reynolds/

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  2. I can't wait to finish up my commitment reads so I can get to this one. Love the idea of an alternate history and P&P mash up. Insightful review, Ceri!

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    1. Thank you so much Sophia for your comment. An alternate history is a wonderful idea, isn't it! Like a dystopia but more cheerful :D

      I think you will enjoy the book when you get to read it. I hope so anyway!

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  3. Ceri, I think the internet ate my comment. Let me try again. I wanted to congratulate Reynolds on the creativity of this idea. 'What if' indeed. The 'Little Tyrant' was a big thorn in the side of the British... or maybe it was the other way around... anyway this was so creative. I want to wish Reynolds all manner of success in the launch of this book and blessings on further ideas... yeah!! Have a blessed day. JWG

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    1. Thank you so much Jeanne for your comment and you good wishes for Abigail... selfishly I especially thank you for your wish for future ideas for her!

      Napoleon certainly was a real danger to Britain. It's odd to think that things could have been so different, but Napoleon was very successful in mainland Europe so who knows if it could have happened.

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  4. Yours is an excellent review of a book that knocked my socks off. That you read it in one sitting is amazing because the book is long. I thought I was doing well to complete it in two days' time!

    Nevertheless, C&C is an outstanding effort and I wonder how Abigail Reynolds will surpass herself in the future! IMHO it feels like a "magnum opus": every word, every thought, every nuance combined for a perfect example of Ms. Reynolds' intelligence and dedication to her craft. Like you, I rated it five stars. I will be going back to reread it often.

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    1. Thank you so much for your comment Katherine. I read it in one sitting, it was three cups of tea long. However, I am a fast and greedy reader who gobbles up a book if I'm enjoying it! I think it might have taken me maybe 4 or 5 hours. I don't usually get that much reading time in one stretch so I made the most of it.

      I hope Abigail sees your lovely comment. I think so many of her books are truly outstanding. I've thought many times of doing an Austenesque top 10 but I'd have to limit how many of her titles I'd include to make space for other people!

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  5. Carole in Canada26 June 2017 at 16:14

    Excellent review Ceri! I am really looking forward to reading this!

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    1. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did Carole!

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  6. This book sent shock waves from my head to my toes. Twice I wanted to sob and scream at Abigail's treatment of our dear couple. She wrote such tender affection between Darcy and Elizabeth. Swoon! I will read this again and again. Great review, Ceri.

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    1. Thank you Joy. I think the two moments were probably the same as mine! I was expecting the chapter 15 one but not the other!

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  7. This was a wonderful review, Ceri! I am glad you enjoyed this story. I think Abigail did a lovely job with it too. 😉

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    1. Thank you so much Claudine. I am glad you enjoyed it too :)

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  8. I also really liked this book. I read the first few chapters on Austen Variations and couldn't wait to buy an eBook when it came out. Thanks for featuring Abigail.

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    1. I didn't read the chapters on AV, because I wanted to save myself for the book. I was very happy to be able to feature Abigail here, as she has written so many of my favourite JAFF books.

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  9. Loved this both as it was a WIP and then when it was first released. This is an author whose books I buy immediately. And it is one I will reread. Great review, Ceri. Like you said before we do share very similar tastes.

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  10. On the subject of alternative Pride & Prejudices but this time adhering to historical fact. What about an Austen variation centred on Lucien Bonaparte's ( brother of Napoleon ) family who were placed on parole after the family were captured by the Royal Navy at sea in 1810 & held ( under loose on parole arrest in England ) Bonaparte bought Thorngrove hall at Grimley near Worcester & lived the life of a country squire from 1811 to 1814 until such as Lucien & the family were released to return to Italy following Napoleon Bonapartes abdicated in April 1814. Lucien's daughter Charlotte Bonaparte would have been about the right age ( as Elizabeth Bennet ( at the time ) amongst the other of his daughters staying at Thorngrove hall. See the following. https://historywm.com/articles/a-brother-in-exile

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If you're not logged in to Google please leave your name in your comment or it will post as anonymous. Thanks! - Ceri