I'm happy to be featuring Jan Hahn again on the blog today, with her latest book, 'The Child'. I was lucky enough to receive a copy of the book for my review, and I'll share what I thought of it below. First, though, let's whet your appetite by sharing the blurb!
Will Darcy ever grow to love a child he never wanted?
In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Fitzwilliam Darcy’s proposal to Elizabeth Bennet at Hunsford is disastrous. In Jan Hahn’s The Child, Darcy flees England soon afterward, striving to overcome his longing for her. Upon his return two years later―while standing on the steps of St. George’s Church in Hanover Square―he spies the very woman he has vowed to forget. But who is the child holding her hand?
Darcy soon discovers that Elizabeth and her family are suffering the effects of a devastating scandal. His efforts to help the woman he still loves only worsen her family’s plight. His misguided pride entangles him in a web of falsehood, fateful alliances, and danger.
Will Elizabeth be able to forgive Darcy for his good intentions gone awry? And what effect will the child have on Darcy’s hopes to win Elizabeth’s love?
My Review - The Child by Jan Hahn
I don’t have time for re-reading; however, that doesn’t stop me doing it! One of my favourite books to have a sneaky re-read of is Jan Hahn’s An Arranged Marriage, which sees Elizabeth being persuaded to agree to marry Mr Darcy to save her family from financial ruin. So when I had the opportunity to read The Child I had to take it.
In this book, we open with a scene that immediately draws us in to the story. After his disastrous proposal in Hunsford, Darcy went travelling with Bingley to lick his wounds and recover. He didn’t travel to Pemberley, and therefore didn’t see Elizabeth again. Three years later, newly back in England, Darcy sees Elizabeth across a London street, carrying a child.
Would she look up? Would she discern it was me? At that very moment—as though something greater than ourselves willed it—she raised her head. Our eyes met, and I saw the disbelief that overtook her expression.Darcy makes some guarded enquiries and finds out that one of the Bennet sisters eloped with Wickham and was later abandoned, leaving her with a child. The entire family was ruined. This should be enough to make him forget Miss Bennet and walk away, but on the contrary, he finds he needs to know what has happened.
And thus, some eighteen days after I had happened to see Miss Elizabeth Bennet across the street from St. George’s Church, I now travelled the road to Hertfordshire on the pretext of aiding my friend, but all the while in fervent hope I might put to rest the mystery concerning her fate.Social ruin in these times is no trifling obstacle. Add in misunderstandings on both sides, defensiveness, resentment, mistakes and there is lot to overcome. Another dynamic in this story is ‘the child’. This is how Darcy often thinks of her, not as a little person, but almost as an object, which needs to be dealt with. Fitzwilliam Darcy has come a long way in improving how he deals with people since his rude awakening at Hunsford, but he has a way to go yet.
This is a story from Darcy’s point of view – I liked that we got to see so much of what was going on in his head, sometimes you could see he was heading for a bad decision and other times you realise that he is mistaken in his views because the reader knows what is more likely from their knowledge of Pride & Prejudice. This perspective means that we are not privy to Elizabeth’s feelings so we join Darcy in trying to divine how she feels, and probably do a better job than him! Sometimes I felt that both Darcy and Elizabeth made more short-sighted decisions than I thought were likely, but I enjoyed sadly shaking my head as I prepared for it to all go wrong!
What I particularly enjoyed about this story was the romance. I think some of the reasons that Mr Darcy is such an attractive hero are his constancy to Elizabeth, and the fact that he wants to make himself a better person because she found him wanting. There is plenty of that here, and it makes for delicious reading.
“Do not fear, Bingley, no woman owns my heart.”
The only woman to whom I offered it threw it back in my face.
“One day,” he said after I missed the shot, “I suspect you will fall in love, and when you do, it will be forever.”
There was no need to reply, Bingley spoke the truth.Sigh and swoon and sigh again! I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderfully romantic read, and I know it’s one I will read again. For those who don’t like sex scenes, you are safe with this book, and for those who do, I don’t think you’ll miss them, as this book still has passion. I’d rate this as a five star read.
Award-winning writer Jan
Hahn is the author of five Austen-inspired novels. She studied music at the
University of Texas, but discovered her true love was a combination of
journalism and literature. Her first book, An Arranged Marriage, was
published in 2011, followed by The Journey, The Secret Betrothal, A
Peculiar Connection, and The Child. The anthology, The Darcy
Monologues, contains her short story entitled Without Affection. She
agrees with Mr. Darcy’s words in Pride and Prejudice: ‘A lady’s
imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to
matrimony in a moment.’
Jan is a member of JASNA,
lives in Texas, has five children and a gaggle of grandchildren
Contact Links:
Giveaway Time!
Readers may enter the drawing by tweeting once each day and by commenting daily on a blog post or review that has a giveaway attached to this tour. Entrants must provide the name of the blog where they commented.
Each winner will be randomly selected by Rafflecopter and the giveaway is international. Each entrant is eligible to win one eBook.
To enter, please use the Rafflecopter.
Buy Links
If you can't wait for the giveaway, or if you aren't a lucky winner, remember that you can buy the book now.
If you can't wait for the giveaway, or if you aren't a lucky winner, remember that you can buy the book now.
Find out more about The Child at the other stops on the blog tour:
March 23 More Agreeably Engaged / Excerpt Post & Giveaway
March 24 My Vices and Weaknesses/ Book Review & Giveaway
March 26 Of Pens and Pages /
Book Review & Giveaway
March 27 Just Jane 1813/ Author Interview & Giveaway
March 28 Austenesque Reviews / Character Interview & Giveaway
March 29 So Little Time / Guest Post & Giveaway
March 30 Diary of an Eccentric / Excerpt Post & Giveaway
March 31 Babblings of a Bookworm / Book Review & Giveaway
April 2 Laughing with Lizzie / Vignette Post & Giveaway
* * *
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This book has stirred up so many good reviews... I can imagine you are very happy with its success. I look forward to reading it. Blessings on the remaining blog tour. Thanks to Ceri for hosting and to Meryton Press for the generous give-a-way.
ReplyDeleteI'm more than happy with the kindnesses shown to me on the blog tour. I'm very grateful. Thank you for following the blogs and for all your comments. I appreciate every one of them!
DeleteThanks Jeanne. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did when you get to read it.
DeleteI enjoyed reading your thoughts on The Child, Ceri! Excellent review! Your quotes were enticing and made me want to go back and read those parts again. This is a book I will re-read too, Ceri. I agree with you on the romance and passion. It made me swoon, too. Thank you for sharing with us.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Janet! I always like to hear you're swooning over Darcy.
DeleteThanks Janet. I am glad you enjoyed it too!
DeleteSo does this mean that Bingley also abandoned the Bennets and Jane - really will have to read this book
ReplyDeleteYes, you really have to read the book, Vesper. Hope you enjoy it!
DeleteHi Vesper - yes, Bingley didn't go back to Netherfield in this one, but went travelling with Darcy. He didn't hear about the Bennets' disgrace until Darcy found out. This is not a spoiler as you will find this out in the first chapter or so.
DeleteThanks for the review and sharing the quotes about Mr. Darcy's constancy. That is certainly one of the reasons I love his character so much.
ReplyDeleteMe, too! I love Darcy's essentials, including his constancy. I like to read books about good men, and even though my Darcy is human and makes mistakes, he's really a good man. Thanks for commenting!
DeleteMe three! Constancy is SUCH an important characteristic in a partner, an absolute must in a hero.
DeleteGreat review Ceri! I so enjoyed being inside Darcy's head myself!
ReplyDeleteIt's not easy being inside Darcy's head, but I'm glad you enjoy it, Carole. Thanks!
DeleteThanks Carole! I really enjoyed it too. It's interesting to see something from one character's perspective as of course, their perception of things can be skewed by their misconceptions and prejudices.
DeleteReally intrigued and keen to read it now!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you're intrigued, Elaine. Hope you like the book. Thanks!
DeleteI hope you enjoy it when you read it Elaine!
DeleteWhat a wonderful review, Ceri! Thank you so much. I appreciate your participation in the blog tour more than you can know. You do such a great job in publicizing writers' work. Without your generous help, we'd have a hard time communicating with readers.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Jan, that's very kind!
DeleteHooray for five stars! I enjoyed reading this review and it's extremely helpful to potential readers to have an unbiased view such as this one to help decide which books to read. Obviously, The Child is a must-read book. Thanks, Jan and Ceri!
ReplyDeleteThanks Suzan. I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading this book, and I am glad to have had the opportunity to read it :)
DeleteSo true, Suzan. I’m really grateful for reviews and for supporters like you. Thank you!
DeleteFab review Ceri! I started off this tour thinking there was way too much angst for me, but now I'm at the stage where I must read this and soon. I so love a romantic Darcy (and I suspect I'm not alone in this ��)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Glynis, I was a little worried about the angst. There are some misunderstandings early on and I thought - here we go, half the book will be taken up with this, and one or two conversations could clear it all up - and then those couple of conversations happened! It was very refreshing, and realistic. There is some angst, but it's more uncertainty about feelings. It felt realistic rather than manufactured or ramped up angst, and as such was very enjoyable :)
DeleteI’m with you, Glynis. I love a romantic Darcy! Thanks for commenting.
DeleteGreat review Ceri, thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to reading the book.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Kate!
DeleteI hope you enjoy it, KateB!
DeleteOh man! I still need to read An Arranged Marriage and its neat that you love it as a re-read.
ReplyDeleteThat quote of Darcy and Bingley's conversation has me swonny already. He really is an amazing hero.
I love how she explores the worst case scenario variation of how if Pemberley hadn't happened and ruin does. Glad to get your thoughts on how well it worked, Ceri.
In some respects The Child reminded me of An Arranged Marriage, though that one is from Elizabeth's PoV, so it was good to see things from the other side.
DeleteI thought this was an interesting look at ruin because the child wasn't sent away, like you'd expect, but became a member of the family. This is obviously social suicide for the family, who can't bear to part with her. But they see her as a person rather than just as 'The Child'.
I still haven't read The Journey, though I've had it recommended to me umpteen times, or A Secret Betrothal, but I am a bit frightened of the premise of that one!
Thank you, Sophia! I do have a thing about getting my poor characters into the worst case scenarios. I don’t set out to do that. It just seems to turn out that way. Makes for sweet resolutions, though.
DeleteLove the sly comment from Darcy!
ReplyDeleteGlad you do, Eva. Thanks!
DeleteHe definitely has a sense of humour here Eva :)
DeleteA very entertaining review, Ceri. I really enjoyed following the tour and reading all the reviews posted. It looks like you have another winner, Jan!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words, Luthien!
DeleteI'm so glad that Jan has published a new book! Her writing is always a delight. I enjoyed Darcy's way to improve, especially through the improvement of her relationship with "the child".
ReplyDeleteYes, me too, Agnes. His attitude to 'the child' at the beginning is typical of how you'd expect a member of society at that time to see a child from that background, and I loved to see him start to see her as a person rather than a problem.
DeleteLoved this book and will read it again sometime. Loved "...fell in love a second time..."
ReplyDeleteOh yes, Sheila! <3
Delete