Fitzwilliam Darcy was elated that Providence would make him meet Elizabeth Bennet at Kent, where he was on a visit to his
aunt; and she, on a visit to her cousin and her good friend. Certain that it is
Elizabeth whom he wants to be mistress of Pemberly and his ‘other half’, he thus proposes to her. Alas, Elizabeth rejects him, declaring that he was the last man in the world whom she could ever be prevailed on to marry. Elizabeth’s thorough rejection of his proposal, coupled with insinuations on his ungentlemanly character, brings Darcy into a journey of self-evaluation and a future without Elizabeth. Leaving her a letter essaying his participation in the separation of Charles Bingley and Ms. Jane Bennet and his reason for it, and a narrating George Wickham’s true character, Darcy sets off to be the gentleman he had always dreamt to be.
Again, Providence brings them together on the very grounds of Pemberly. Darcy finds that he still feels intently for Elizabeth and resolves to show her the changed man that he has become, but his resolution is tested when Lydia Bennet, Elizabeth’s younger sister, eloped with Wickham, Darcy’s most hated person and on whom he had once sought revenge.
Is Elizabeth worth Darcy’s pride where Wickham is concerned? Or will Darcy leave the matter be and forever lose Elizabeth?
I had never been excited about a novel as I had been excited about this, the last instalment in Pamela Aidan’s A Novel of
Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman. So excvited was I that I brought out my copy of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and read, alongside Aidan’s, the reactions of Elizabeth Bennet vis-à-vis Darcy’s. It was exhilarating, almost toxifying. Aidan effectively brought to the core Darcy’s struggles as he re-evaluates his character, having been rejected most painfully by Elizabeth. And the turmoil within him as he has to practice that change in character with the very person who caused his family pain was so effectively narrated, I felt the internal battle.
Aidan goes back to the Austen style of writing that I thought was lost in the second book, but she infused the third with her genre of suspense. I saw the necessity of this as I was brought to understand how Darcy managed to find Wickham and Lydia; yet, other stories would have sufficed. Still, I liked this new addition to the beloved story of Darcy and Elizabeth because the wit and humour were not lost. Besides, I would have liked to see Lord Dyfed Brougham in the picture.
A truly delightful read for all the romantics out there, who hopes for a Mr. Darcy of their own. I hope mine comes soon enough.