Georgiana Darcy's Diary

Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continued by Anna Elliott

Read: 2013 on my nook

I'm a sucker for Jane Austen and although, I never set my sights too high, I do love the idea of checking back in with my favorite characters and seeing what else they could be up to.   In the preface to this book the author writes that Georgiana is the one character from Pride and Prejudice whose future Austen didn't envision.

In Elliott's take on the classic, Georgianna is living with Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth in their happy home, Pemberley. She is very fond of both, and still trying to prove that she's learned from that horrible situation with George Wickham those many years ago.  Although, she's not convinced that her brother will ever trust her again not to fall in some horrible man's clutches, or forgive himself for not protecting her better.  But, that's just the beginning of her man problems.

You see, Aunt DeBourgh and her poor sickly daughter Anne are visiting and the Lady Catherine has filled the house with eligible men in an effort to marry off her niece.  Georgiana here, is the same lovely and shy creature she was in Pride and Prejudice and she is rightly indignant and embarrassed after overhearing her would be suitors bad mouth her, all the while, remaining in the game for her hand, because of her name and fortune.  As if it isn't bad enough that all these horrible men, who care nothing for her are being forced on her by her aunt, the man she's been crushing on for as long as she can remember, Colonel Fitzwilliam appears to be engaged.

You can see Elliott's love for this story and the characters on every page.  It was a sweet little trip down memory lane, where I got to reconnect with favorite characters and peep into what may have been after Austen's beloved tale ended.  I think she does the story justice.  She keeps Georgiana the lovely girl she seemed in P&P and I love what she does for poor pathetic and sour Anne DeBourgh. 

If you are a fan of Austen, you could easily escape back into her world with this book.  Elliott respects the time, the language and sensibilities of the original while bringing fresh storylines to characters we know and love.  

This book is available for free in all e-formats.  While it will never be up for any literary awards, you definitely get more than you pay for with this sweet little imagining of Miss Darcy and life in post-P&P Pemberley.