I love reading variations on Pride and Prejudice and this
one has an unusual variation; rather than change something in the timeline of
the original novel, this story explores how different things could have been if
Mr and Mrs Bennet were different. In this
tale, Mr Bennet in particular is altered.
He is much more energetic and hands-on with his family. Rather than retreat to his book room and let
fate take its course he has been actively involved in his family’s upbringing
which has meant a huge change in the Bennet sisters, and also their
mother. Mrs Bennet is far more refined
and restrained, as are the girls. Lydia particularly is unrecognisable! I
couldn’t help but feel that this affected Elizabeth in a less positive way
though - personally I am fond of her impertinence, which she is made to tone
down. Her dialogue is missing some of
the sparkle for me, I felt she was a little bland at the beginning of this
story.
Darcy’s introduction into Hertfordshire society is also affected
by this difference in Mr Bennet, who befriends the younger man after deciding
to give him the benefit of the doubt over his behaviour to Lizzy rather than
fan the flames of her dislike. Thus Lizzy and the Bennets don’t tell
Hertfordshire of Darcy’s slight of Lizzy and he is more generally welcomed. The only person who is determined not to like
him is Elizabeth, partly for the slight but more because she seems to have her
nose put out of joint by him usurping her place as the ‘clever’ one. It makes her seem a little petty and immature,
but she improves as the story progresses.
With their improved upbringing, when the Bennet sisters meet
Mr Wickham at their aunt’s house neither Lydia or Lizzy are prepared to listen
to him (although I’m not sure whether Lydia would have been there, as in this
version she isn’t ‘out’ in society). Both
girls are disturbed by his over-familiarity and report this to their father,
along with Wickham’s sob story in relation to Darcy. Once Bennet mentions Wickham to Darcy he is
informed of Wickham’s character and sets about warning society in
Hertfordshire, thereby making an enemy of Wickham, who gets steadily more
deranged as the story progresses.
You may have thought that this friendship between Bennet and
Darcy would mean that all would be straightforward in the relationship between
the elder Bennet sisters and their swains, but you would be wrong, as in this
version Jane and Elizabeth are wards of the Bennets, taken on when they were
very small children upon the death of their parents, whose identities have been
kept secret. All of this unfolds in a
mixture of events in the timeline of Pride and Prejudice and as flashbacks to
past happenings, telling the story of Mr and Mrs Bennet when they were
younger. I particularly liked seeing
this different version of Mr and Mrs Bennet:
“He threw back his head and laughed heartily at the idea of
his wife having an attack of the vapours.”
Not exactly the Bennets we know!
Other events follow the same pattern in Pride and Prejudice,
such as Elizabeth visiting Rosings, but the visit is very different – she is on
much better terms with Darcy for one, and there is also some danger lurking at
Rosings and a turn of events that will affect the future of the whole Bennet
family. The story has more than a dash of
angst and there are some scenes which are uncomfortable to read. There was some behaviour I didn’t feel was
likely, but even as I thought that often the author would explain why x was
happening, it felt well thought through and reasoned even if I didn’t always
think the characters would behave that way, especially people who were close to
Wickham. Some of the dialogue is kept from P&P, which I thought was a nice
touch, not always said by the original character, but I quite like that. I thought that this was an original idea for
a variation and I’d be interested to read more books by this author. I'd rate this as 3½ out of 5.
