Darcy’s Deal: A Pride & Prejudice Variation

The Deal of the Century, or An Appropriate Wife for Fitzwilliam Darcy: 3.5-stars

This short novella by Zoe Burton was cute but left the reader wanting more. It mainly focused on ODC [our dear couple], Darcy and Elizabeth, finding each other and fighting forces trying to circumvent their HEA.

Darcy needed a wife and Elizabeth needed a husband… period. Lord Matlock and Lord Winthrop needed each other in their political machinations and each had a relation that needed marriage. It was a deal made in Heaven or in their men’s club. All that was needed was to introduce the interested or disinterested parties and let nature take its course.

Darcy was disgusted with the marriage mart full of brainless debutantes and their conniving and matchmaking mammas. He was exhausted with attending nightly gatherings where he was on display for every fortune-seeking, unmarried female of the ton. But, he had to marry or he would lose guardianship of his sister, who was at that trying age and was currently giving him trouble.

Elizabeth had quickly been removed from her home at Longbourn due to the vitriolic outbursts and violence from her mother. Elizabeth had intervened when two neighbors behaved with ungentlemanly like behavior toward her and her eldest sister Jane. Mrs. Bennet only saw them as marriageable offerings for her two favorite girls [Jane and Lydia] and was incensed when they quit the neighborhood. She blamed Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet finally acknowledged that his wife’s violent behavior was only intensifying and sent his favorite daughter to her godfather in London.

It was here that we had the two Lords meeting at their favorite club and discovering that they each had a bargaining chip in their unmarried relations. After much jockeying for position, they devised a plan to their mutual satisfaction. Lord Matlock offered Darcy as a prospective groom and Lord Winthrop offered Elizabeth, his goddaughter, as a prospective bride. They agreed to a future meeting and the bargain was struck.

When Elizabeth entered the room, Darcy, not seeing her clearly, made a snarky remark regarding her beauty… I instantly froze as I read his comments. Were we to have a rehash of the Meryton Assembly comment? Would Elizabeth hear and be offended? Would we have to go through all the pride and prejudice as before? Burton teased us unmercifully with that first impression scene. OMG! I held my breath as Elizabeth was introduced to Darcy for the first time. Each had been appraised of the purpose of the meeting. They knew this was a prospective marriage partner and approached the introduction with trepidation.

Burton utilized descriptive words in order to bring ODC together. The physical attributes that always made Darcy stand out in a crowd were the same here. In canon, when Darcy first entered the Meryton Assembly, everyone was taken by his being handsome and well dressed. Elizabeth was also taken with his appearance. Only this time, he was not in a crowd with strangers that caused him to retreat within himself. He was with family and friends and was thus able to put his best foot forward. Elizabeth was not put off by his offensive comment as she had not heard him. She was then able to see in him as a gentleman, well-read, full of intelligence, and was pleased with what she saw. So began the courtship of ODC.

When Lord Winthrop took Darcy to Longbourn to meet her family, he was horrified by the actions of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and the younger girls. Poor Darcy, even though he had been warned, was given first-hand proof of where his Elizabeth had come from and what she had to endure on a daily basis. It was not a good scene. Darcy was offended and horrified by the actions of the family and before he could rein them in, he allowed his emotions to get the better of him. He let his feelings and notions be known in a set-down that the family will never forget and then walked out of the house. It was sad. In reality, I don’t know if he would have done this in someone’s home. Propriety and comportment had its own set of rules on how to conduct oneself and I cannot see Darcy acting that way even if he was angry.

Since this was a novella or short story, it moved very quickly… almost too quickly. Mrs. Bennet was not best pleased when her plans for Elizabeth to marry Collins fell in the dirt. She attempted to make her sentiments known and her scene in the stables was a hoot. If this had been a longer book, I could see where she would not have relinquished her anger so readily. Her actions ended way too quickly for someone of that natural bent.

Lady Catherine was outrageous and I’ve always thought her feelings would result in violence. Her encounters with her brother, Lord Matlock, were so in character with Lady Catherine that it was a hoot to watch how he managed her tirade. I was horrified by her actions when she first met Elizabeth. I expected more dialogue from canon at that meeting. However, it was bad enough as it was.

The story ended with a lot of unanswered questions. What happened with Jane, Kitty, and Lydia? Where were Charles Bingley and his sisters? Wickham and Mrs. Younge were never mentioned and Darcy had hired Mrs. Annesley as Georgiana’s companion. What about poor Charlotte? Mr. Collins was still unmarried and Lady Catherine had previously commanded him to marry. The militia was not mentioned as arriving at Meryton. In fact, they had been encamped near Georgiana’s school. So, back in Hertfordshire, we have no militia, no Colonel and Mrs. Forster, no Wickham, no Lydia going to Brighton, and no Gretna Green.

There were errors that have been mentioned in prior reviews… the Lady de Bourgh incident and I noticed the word ‘for’ instead of ‘four’ that got passed the edit.

Just a note: What was Mrs. Bennet thinking trying to force Elizabeth to marry Collins? What did she think Elizabeth would do if and when Mr. Bennet died? She had treated Elizabeth so abominably and yet she wanted her to be mistress of Longbourn? Interesting…just shows she wasn’t very bright to think through to the consequence of that action.