Becoming Elizabeth: A Pride and Prejudice Variation “Madeline Gardner drew breath. “I had never thought it before, but it occurred to me today that Thomas Bennet has not been a very good husband. He has reduced Fanny into something very close to a joke in that house.” Lizzie Bennet, a reigning belle in the district of Meryton and ‘the smartest person in her father’s house’ fears marriage. She is … marriage. She is afraid of being controlled and can’t imagine anything worse than becoming like her mother: an object of derision to her husband and family. Family circumstances dictate that the Bennet girls must marry; but can Lizzie find the maturity to overcome her fears and begin the changes that will lead towards her becoming Elizabeth?
Fitzwilliam Darcy has his problems too. Wealth, status and family expectations have moulded his public behaviour. But behind his proud, cynical exterior lies an intelligent, passionate man, longing for an equally intelligent and passionate partner in life.
Circumstances have brought them together, but can two such strong personalities find each other through the welter of conflicting forces that hold them apart?
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“Worry not that your child listens to you; worry most that they watch you.” Ronald A. Heifetz
This was a clean, but not a quick read, and yet, I stayed up late and read it straight through. I simply could not put it down and there is simply too much to cover in a review.
In every JAFF variation, there are those little things that we always wish would happen. Example: Bingley would put on his big boy pants. Jane would stand up for herself. The younger silly Bennet sisters, and their mother, would be reined in, and Mr. Bennet would wake up and see the situation in his own home… and so on. Well, in his variation many of those things happened.
We open post Netherfield Ball. Bingley has left on his business trip to London, unaware that his sisters have closed the house and followed him. Jane and Elizabeth are deconstructing the behavior of their family at the ball and have decided it’s time to make some changes at the Bennet household. During lunch, the discussion of their younger sisters’ drunk and disorderly behavior alarmed their father and nearly caused their mother to faint.
Meanwhile, in London, Bingley and Darcy have that discussion about Bingley’s choice of Miss Bennet and Bingley lets Darcy know that he is his own man and will make his own decisions… thank you very much. Bingley fully intends to return to Hertfordshire as planned regardless of what his friend or sisters think or want. Well, that certainly puts things into perspective.
This was a very strange story. I’ve not read this author before and their writing style was very unusual. On the surface, it was a very good variation. However, there was more to it than that. It was an intense introspection that dug deep into the psyche of both Darcy and Elizabeth. I was nearly in tears as our author pulled emotions and feelings out of our dear couple. It hurt to see how damaged each was by events and situations of their past, and events of their present.
There was humor… I will never again think of Easter in Kent in the same way. OMG!!! Our dear Colonel and Lady Catherine was an absolute hoot. To see our dear Colonel, of His Majesty’s Service, reduced to a five-year old while being chided by his aunt, was a scream. There were several places in the story that just made me laugh out loud. Darcy’s dog in the study was another scene that left me bent over laughing.
“I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.” Umberto Eco, Foucault’s Pendulum
The author brought me to tears, along with Elizabeth, as she struggled with her feelings and emotions. We have a scarred young lady who, observing the marriage of her parents, vowed that she would rather never marry, than live such a life. With such a twisted view of marriage, Darcy never stood a chance with her. She had built such a solid fortress around her heart and soul, that it was near impossible for him to breach the perimeter. However, never underestimate Mr. Darcy, as he was not above scaling the walls.
This was an endearing story as we struggled with Darcy and his own troubled feelings. I ached with him as he evaluated his own views on marriage, his friendship with Bingley [I nearly cried], and what he wanted in a partner. Man, that was hard; however, nothing worth having comes easy.
We have the Bingley and Jane story. That was so delightful. I just loved this Bingley. Man… where has he been all this time? He certainly had a surprise for Caroline. Speaking of surprises… there were lots of surprises at Longbourn. Man, what a difference. However, I won’t spoil it.
There was also a big surprise with Wickham that was so UNREAL. OMG!!! What was he thinking? But, what Darcy said to him was the most awesome amazing thing regarding the elder Mr. Darcy. I’ve never seen it and it was so profound. YES! Wickham so needed to hear how the elder Darcy really felt about his son.
Working through emotions, phobias [terror], control issues, and resistance to giving up her independence was hard on ODG [our dear girl] and time consuming. Many JAFF stories has her hating Mr. Darcy… and then loving him, within the span of a few pages. Not so here. This was a major struggle that Elizabeth had to work through. Our modern sensibilities simply do not understand that she was an innocent. She had never touched a man before, had never been near a man, in the presence of, or been alone with a man other than relatives. And now, all of a sudden, she was supposed to just trust him? Marriages, of that time period, were very difficult to define and she had a lot to decide. I loved the epilogue. OMG!