Carrie Bebris - North by Northanger

Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Author: Carrie Bebris
Title: North by Northanger

I do wonder if Jane Austen has spawned more derivatives than any author.  I certainly come across more of them. Such books have familiar characters you can latch on to immediately.  The rest is in the hands of the author, how successfully they are able to carry the illusion of a story taken forward.  Many fail miserably.  They make a hash of beloved characters and take the story into unbelievable places. Carrie Bebris, thankfully, does no such thing.

Mr. and Mrs. Darcy, Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth, are still happily married a year after we left them in our beloved book.  They are expecting their first child.  On their way back from visiting Jane and Bath they are asked by Fredrick Tilney to stop by and visit them in Northanger Abbey as he wishes to reminiscence with them about friendship between their mothers, Anne Darcy and Helen Tilney. Mystified but curious, the Darcys agree.  What follows is deceit, false accusations, loss of family heirlooms, unfair imprisonment and discovery of a beautiful friendship through letters.

The story draws you in immediately.  The best part, in my opinion, is the very apt and beautiful quote at the head of each chapter taken from Jane Austen's correspondence with her sister Cassandra and also her various books. Sample these:

My hearing nothing of you makes me apprehensive that you, your fellow travellers and all your effects, might be seized by the bailiffs...
                                              Jane Austen, letter to Cassandra

I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.
                                               Jane Austen, letter to Cassandra

Pictures of perfection, as you know, make me sick and wicked.
                                               Jane Austen, letter to Fanny Knight

These series go by the name of Mr. & Mrs. Darcy mystery.  Mr. Darcy, in this novel, does the footwork; Visiting places and gleaning information, chasing and apprehending criminals. Elizabeth gathers information, reads clues and figures out the mystery. Oh, she also gives birth to a baby.

The only thing that annoyed me a bit towards the end, was the sudden popping in of all the family members.  It seemed too contrived.  I am pretty sure no one gatecrashed at each others houses in those days.

At the start of the book there was a little Rebecca like atmosphere as Elizabeth feels overshadowed by references to her late mother-in-law Anne Darcy.  She is vital to the story, as most of the mystery Mr. & Mrs. Darcy are trying to unravel belongs to the past.

I loved the way the writer combines the characters from Northanger Abbey and Pride and Prejudice. I was sad that Catherine Tilney makes no appearance in it.

All in all this is a very interesting book. I look forward to reading other Mr. & Mrs. Darcy mysteries.

Pamela Aidan - An Assembly Such as this

An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I wonder if Jane Austen has the honor of having spawned more fan fiction than any other author. It seems to me. I have read several derivatives of her novels. I have liked some, not all.

I had read a lot of serious stuff lately, poetry and classical fiction and needed some light reading, hence I clicked on this book.

This novel is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice from the point of view of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. The events of the novel are gone over once again from his perspective. It is an interesting idea, and it makes for an interesting reading.

The problem with it was when the writer spent a lot of time describing the inner turmoil of Darcy every time he spots Elizabeth. According to Ms. Aiden, Darcy tries to impress Elizabeth, but he is brought up short by her wit. He is portrayed as a person who is not too good in female company and does not know how to negotiate himself around a self-assured person such as Elizabeth.

We are treated to page after page of poor Darcy trying to get up close and personal with Elizbeth with her rebuffing him unfailingly. The story adds events that Jane Austen forgot to record, for instance, Jane and Elizbeth going to church with the Bingleys and Darcy after Jane recovers from her illness.

After the Netherfield ball, Darcy and Bingley leave for London. The story takes and interesting turn there. But I found, to my dismay that the story ended rather abruptly. Ms. Aidan has chopped Mr. Darcy's tale into several parts.

The story is good, no doubt about that, but it does ramble on. There is too much focus on Darcy's clothes and how he dresses. His valet is a bit like Jeeves, manipulating his master into wearing certain clothes and getting into certain situations!

At the end of part I, I did not feel like going straight to amazon and ordering the part II. Simply because the tale is taking too long to finish, and I have run out of patience.

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Anna Elliott - Georgiana Darcy's Diary

Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continued by Anna Elliott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was just gifted a Kindle by my daughter. One of the first things I did was to see what I could get free off their stack. I was looking for Persuasion by Jane Austen, and this book was right there beside it.

The title sounded promising. I am not really fond of spin-offs of famous books. I had disliked "The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet" by Colleen McCullough. I did not really like "Scarlett" by Alexandra Ripley. Despite its nice sounding title, the book was likely to be a fluffy romance.

Why not read a fluffy romance first on a brand new Kindle? It has been a long time since I read an easy page turner. What clinched the deal was the prospect of meeting beloved old characters again.

The story starts a year after the momentous incidents at the end of "Pride and Prejudice", the wedding of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Elizabeth is happy as the new mistress of Pemberley. Georgiana gets along beautifully with her. But Lady de Bourgh will not rest until she sees her niece wedded to a proper gentleman before the year is out.

To counter the stress of having suitors flung at her, Georgiana starts keeping a diary. Thus her story is recounted to us - as a series of diary entries. Lady Catherine de Bourgh has prevailed upon Darcy to organize a house party and called several eligible bachelors who may court Georgiana.

Georgiana has plans of her own. She has her heart set upon Col. Edward Fitzwilliam. But will Col. Fitzwilliam, a veteran of wars with Napolean, be interested in an ingenue like Georgiana? Surely he regards her as a chit of a girl- a ward of his- that he must look out for.

Right at the start of the book the author Anne Elliott makes it clear that she has no illusions of being anywhere even close to the great Jane Austen. She has merely imagined what her characters did after the novel ended.

Hence, I read the novel in the same spirit. I could see right at the start that this was a light romance, a page turner.

Anna Elliott keeps the reader engrossed in the story. There is plenty happening here. Balls, dresses, gossip, romance. Anne de Bourgh is still a sickly woman doomed to be a spinster. But Georgiana steps in to befriend her and teach her to be more outgoing.

Caroline Bingley is also present at the house party and she is still the same haughty, overdressed woman. She is still bitter at having lost Darcy.

Modern authors tend to color history by attributing more modern characteristics in their characters. Hence, Georgiana becomes a bit of a feminist. She tries to be egalitarian. She even hears a friend admit he is gay without fainting. Please, dear Anna Elliott, we know Jane Austen was not politically correct. She was a creature of her own times and we love her for it. Do not try to change that.

All in all, a fun, quick and an entertaining read.

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