« "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" by Salman Rushdie | Main | "Brand New" by Nancy Koehn »
March 13, 2006
"Fitzwilliam Darcy: Gentleman" by Pamela Aiden
There are lots of books that re-work classic novels. I have just read one of the many such stories that re-tell Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Pamela Aiden’s three part series, entitled Fitzwilliam Darcy: Gentleman, tells the familiar story from Mr. Darcy’s point of view. The parts are: Book 1, An Assembly Such as This (2003), Book 2, Duty and Desire (2004), and Book 3, These Three Remain (2005). Overall I liked this series. It gave me a better understanding of Darcy’s stiff and odd behavior in the original book and showed a possible explanation of how he came to change and grow into the man that Elizabeth Bennet could love, after starting off as a man she found arrogant and conceited. Although at times the story, most especially Book 2 which covers the time after Darcy leaves Netherfield and before he meets Elizabeth again at Rosings, seemed slow going and full of unnecessary dramas (a country house party with horrid people, Irish plots against the British prime minister, spies, etc.), overall it remained true to the spirit of the original and provided a plausible back-story for Mr. Darcy that led me to admire him and his struggles to influence Elizabeth Bennet even more.
ISBNs: An Assembly Such as This - 0972852905
Duty and Desire - 0972852913
These Three Remain - 0972852921
Pam M., reserves
Posted by jnardine at March 13, 2006 10:21 AM