Forced to marry. Deeply in love. If only each knew the other’s heart.A gambler, a profligate and forcibly married to the silly daughter of a country gentleman, no one expected George Wickham to amount to much, nor did they expect him to fall deeply in love with his wife. When that wife takes an unplanned trip in the company of another gentleman, leaving Wickham and her children behind, he will be … children behind, he will be forced to face his fears and fight for those he holds dear.
When her funds run low, Lydia Wickham chooses to travel to Derbyshire to seek help from her sister. What she finds when her husband arrives to take her home is not the kind of help she expected, but exactly the kind she needs. Will she be able to overcome her shortcomings and prove herself worthy of the one person she cannot bear to disappoint?
Through Every Storm is just one of Leenie Brown’s numerous Pride and Prejudice variations. If you like well-written stories of sweet redemption, then you will love this story about a couple whom everyone discarded as hopeless finding the help they need to save their love and claim a happily ever after that seemed lost forever.
So, put the kettle on, pick up your copy of Through Every Storm, and step into a sweet romance, set eight years after the close of Pride and Prejudice, that is filled with trials and fears and tinged with the vibrant hues of hope, redemption, and love that is worth fighting for.
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Wickham as a loving husband and father? A Lydia who learns from her mistakes and grows up? I never imagined these were possible, but Leenie Brown makes it come true in her lovely novella “Through Every Storm.”
Becoming a father deeply changed Wickham, making him realize that he didn’t want his son to grow up like him, or his daughter to be treated by men the way he had treated other women. In the eight years since Pride and Prejudice ended, he has turned his life around, regretting the man he had been before. Lydia, however, is still up to her old habits. When she runs off with a man who isn’t her husband, Wickham must bring her home and show love to his wife in a way he never had before, by teaching her the things she ought to have learnt long before.
A beautiful story reminiscent of Hosea from the Bible, with themes about forgiveness and the true meaning of love.
Everyone has an opportunity to change… whether they choose to do so, is up to them
I put off reading this for some time due to the fact it was a story about Wickham. I didn’t want to like him, have him redeem himself or even to clean up his act. That is, of course, an uncharitable attitude and not very nice on my part. I am sorry to admit that about myself. Implacable resentment is not something I should admit to. My opinion once lost should not be lost forever. Every villain deserves the opportunity to change, but can a leopard truly change his stripes?
I questioned whether this was a story about Wickham or Lydia, or perhaps both. At the opening of our story Lydia had left. She had gone to Pemberley with one of the officers in tow leaving Wickham home with their two children, ages 8 and 5. She had left a note saying that she would return. Sounds like Lydia would do something as foolish as that.
Her side: or excuse: She’d overspend her allowance and was going to her sister to ask for money. Because she didn’t want to travel that far alone, she asked one of the officers to go with her as an escort and for protection. She knew a woman shouldn’t travel alone as it was too dangerous.
Colonel Nathaniel Denny was married to Lydia’s sister Kitty [which was not clear at first, I had to back up and reread sections]. She took care of the children when Wickham and Colonel Denny left for Pemberley to retrieve Lydia. Colonel Denny had sent a group of soldiers ahead of them in order to escort his officer back to camp. It would not go well for him.
Lydia was Lydia. She did not, could not, would not, see the problems that she had caused, such as the fact, 1) that Wickham could throw her off, 2) she was traveling in the company of a man… not her husband, and without her maid, 3) that she left an Inn and did not paid her bill, even though she said she intended to pay them on the return home, 4) that Wickham would not take her to his bed until he was sure she was not with child [shock]. If he took her to his bed she might conceive and this was to insure no one could/would label their child a by-blow, 5) that things would change… or else and she had to sign a paper declaring that she would comply to all his terms… and it was witnessed by Colonel Denny and Mr. Darcy [her sisters’ husbands].
There were temper tantrums with Lydia acting the child in her reasoning and thinking. I struggled to understand without labeling her. Was she ADHD? She struggled with concentration while she attempted to learn and keep up her ledgers and accounts. The math and numbers gave her difficulty and caused her to make mistakes. Other examples, her exuberance and boisterousness could account for the hyperactivity of the disorder. Her lack of impulse control, so evident throughout her life, along with not thinking through to the consequences of her actions, all evidence there may be an underlying problem.
Having said that, this work was not about a label but about redemption and forgiveness. In every life there is a moment when a person has a chance… an opportunity to make changes in their life. Wickham had done that and was repentant in his actions toward others and toward his wife. He had determined to make payments to Darcy for the money he had extorted from him in the marriage of Lydia. He was trying to be an upstanding citizen and business owner in the community. And most of all, a worthy father to their two children. Nothing turns a father’s head and heart more than the loving looks from a daughter and son and he knew he stood before them, an example… for good or evil. That was the sobering fact that had put him on the straight and narrow.
But his battle was not won until Lydia was brought to bear. There was a lot of finger pointing, especially toward Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. Parents everywhere will cringe from the blame game. We have to remember that Jane, Elizabeth and Mary also came from those same parents and once Kitty was out from under Lydia’s influence she too had an opportunity to change. In previous works we were reminded that anyone that wanted to learn was given the opportunity. Lydia chose not to and knew what she needed to do to get out of work, study, practice and had a mother that lived vicariously through her exuberance and vivacity. There was equal blame to pass around. This work was not to throw the Bennet parents under the cart but to redeem a life and save a family.
I will not spoil the reveal or the methods and machinations that Wickham used in an attempt to restore his marriage. It was a worthy read… some angst and…again, we are dealing with Lydia and Wickham. Those who like a redemptive bad boy will enjoy this new Wickham. Those who dislike Lydia will enjoy her punishment. However, those who have a heart to receive the lost back into the fold will enjoy the end result.