Dear Mr Darcy – Amanda Grange

Dear Mr Darcy - Amanda Grange

Dear Mr Darcy – Amanda Grange

I found this novel while on holiday (at the local newsagent) how serendipitous. I was pleasantly surprised.

Here is the blurb …

In this imaginative retelling of Pride and Prejudice, Amanda Grange now tells the classic story through the eyes of its compelling romantic hero, Fitzwilliam Darcy – in a series of revealing letters that casts a sparkling new reflection on the manners and morals of the landed gentry in 19th-century England.

Here, for the first time, are the letters written by the exceedingly proud and stubborn Mr. Darcy, covering the life-changing events that defined him – from the death of his father, to his control of his Derbyshire estate of Pemberley to his conflicted courtship with the lively, intelligent, and delightfully willful Elizabeth Bennet. Try as he may, he cannot deny his attraction to this woman with fine eyes, a playful spirit, a mind of her own. and an embarrassing family that is frankly, and utterly, beneath him. But it is Elizabeth who controls both their destinies, and whose surprises will change Darcy’s life yet again.

It is an epistolary novel, which fills in the back story and Darcy’s perspective during the action of Pride and Prejudice. I thought Ms Grange captured the wicked Mr Wickham extremely well. There were extra characters added – Bingley had a mother, a brother (who worked in trade) and a whole raft of younger siblings and Mr Darcy had a cousin (Phillip Darcy). These characters  were really there to reveal a bit more about existing characters. For example, Caroline Bingley’s letters to her mother reveal her as the terrible snob she is – whereas Darcy’s to Phillip show him working through his feelings for Elizabeth. Mary’s letters to her friend and fellow Learned Women were hilarious – they’re reading The Mysteries of Udolpho and taking it seriously.

This is a quick light-hearted read, which will make you want to read Pride and Prejudice all over again.

More reviews…

http://austenprose.com/2012/08/15/dear-mr-darcy-a-retelling-of-pride-and-prejudice-by-amanda-grange-a-review/

http://bookwormink.co.uk/2/post/2012/10/review-dear-mr-darcy-by-amanda-grange.html

 

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