In “Pride and Prejudice” it is difficult to imagine a woman who would both meet Mr. Darcy’s requirements to take charge of Georgiana, and who would trust Mr. Wickham. If she helped him, she would lose both her job and her reputation. It is unlikely she trusted or loved him enough to do that. We only know Mrs. Younge through Darcy’s eyes, but, though this Mrs. Younge conceals some of her past from … from Mr. Darcy, she neither conspired with Wickham nor is fooled by him. “Mary Younge” shows us there could be another side to the story.
New edition, with special thanks to our new editor, Joanne Girard.
This story is also included in the compilation “Pride and Prejudice Villains: Revisited – Redeemed – Reimagined, A Collection of Six Short Stories”
This “Pride and Prejudice” variation novella is approximately 40,000 words in length.
Renata McMann and Summer Hanford began writing Pride and Prejudice Variations together in 2014 and have since become immersed in the amazing world Jane Austen created. Whether you’re a fan of Darcy and Elizabeth specifically or of clean Regency Romance in general, you will enjoy both McMann’s ability to imagine variations of this classic love story and Hanford’s skill in turning these variations of Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet and their enduring love into entertaining stories.
more
“Oh what a tangled we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” Sir Walter Scott (Marmion, 1808)
3.5 stars
Obviously non-canon, we have the story of Mrs. Younge, the companion and governess to a young Georgiana Darcy. It is totally from her POV, her thoughts, her perspectives and her feelings. I didn’t want to like her and rarely do we see stories written about her in JAFF. However, the writing team of McMann & Hanford changed that.
After I swallowed the bile, from the thoughts of reading a non-villainous Mrs. Younge, I found that the character, as presented by this writing team, was not so bad. It takes a lot of writing power to turn a villain in P&P into a misunderstood, benign character. OK, I’ll give the writing team their due. Great job.
In order to get through the story, I had to forget the following excerpt from canon: “…and thither also went Mr. Wickham, undoubtedly by design; for there proved to have been a prior acquaintance between him and Mrs. Younge, in whose character we were most unhappily deceived; and by her connivance and aid he so far recommended himself to Georgiana….” Yeah, that has to be swept away or you won’t get through the story.
Start fresh and read the story for what it is. A lady, whose station in life was lowered due to the death of her husband. We are given examples of the creative genius of the writing team as they wove a complete background story for our heroine Mary Younge. We were presented with a life from the time she was very young, until she found herself seeking a position with Fitzwilliam Darcy as the governess for his young sister, Miss Georgiana Darcy.
What I did not like: Darcy was presented as a high handed rich guy prig. He was awful. Of course, this was prior to his meeting Elizabeth at the Meryton Assembly. Prior to his being humbled by her rejection of his proposal and so, his behavior was as it had always been… haughty. Still, I didn’t like him.
What I did like: The character Mary. [I cannot say her last name without a shudder]. In order for the reader to like her, we had to be presented with a background that would make us sympathize with her and assuage her behavior. And so, our writing team did just that. We were given a background that made us feel for her, sympathize with her, and feel she was making the best of a bad situation. And so, we, ever the faithful readers that we are, turned our heads as she defrauded and lied, hid vital information from her employment record, gave a false report and presented a forged letter of recommendation to a potential employer, solely for the purpose of securing a position.
“It wasn’t my fault!” How many times have we heard that when a criminal is brought to justice? We were presented the Ramsgate debacle from Mrs. Younge’s perspective and view point. Darcy charged into the fray, did not listen to her when she tried to explain, immediately relieved her of her duty, sent her back to London without a by-your-leave and, most importantly, without a letter of recommendation. And so, ended the companion/governess career of Mrs. Younge.
The secondary story was of her life at the boarding house. It was cute and I liked the characters of Mr. Thompson and his aunt. I became so caught up in the interaction of the boarding house characters that I forgot that this was Mrs. Younge. So, when she answered the knock at the front door, and Mr. Wickham walked in with a recalcitrant Miss Bennet, I was quickly brought back to reality.
Sometime later, Mr. Darcy, on the hunt for the couple, arrived on her doorstep and questioned Mrs. Younge as to the lodgings of Wickham. I did not like the interaction between the two main characters as they argued over Mr. Wickham’s location. It seemed stilted and unnatural. I don’t care how she felt about Mr. Darcy or their past history… this was an egregious situation and she knew exactly where Mr. Wickham was and what he was about. It was obvious that Mr. Darcy was trying to rescue the ‘too young’ Miss Bennet from a villain. To willingly withhold information and to verbally slap at Mr. Darcy was not the way to further her cause or to garner his favor. I did not like the way it was handled.
The conclusion was quick and wrapped up nicely. Although it seemed a bit too clean a sweep, I felt the authors were trying to give our heroine a new life. However, it didn’t feel natural. I didn’t like it. For the character of Mary, it was a good and fitting end to her adventure. For the character of Mrs. Younge, I am not so sure. You will have to be the judge.
Note: This was a free offering from Amazon and an honest review.