This is a book of Pride and Prejudice variations by Elizabeth Ann West. I am not particularly pleased with any of them, although the first at least has an ending of sorts. (And there are no actual ‘dates’ like we think of today. Title fail.) Hopefully my journey through P&P variations gets better from here.
“Much to Conceal”
In this story, Elizabeth reveals to Jane in London what happened with the disastrous proposal in Hunsford a week prior. Jane and their Aunt Gardiner plot to have Elizabeth meet Darcy to try to figure things out. We have Colonel Fitzwilliam’s (who most authors assign the first name of Richard) parents, who appear to behave quite badly in front of guests, and Caroline being herself. The story could continue past the point that it does, but I’m okay with where it ends.
“A Winter Wrong”
First of all, major spoiler in the intro blurb! They hint at a major character death “lost without a cherished loved one” and then tell you who it is in the next paragraph. Is no one checking these blurbs?!
Jane falling ill after her ride in the rain was not of her own folly, but of an epidemic that swept through the area, taking many. Elizabeth goes to London to be with her Aunt and Uncle. The ending wasn’t particularly satisfying, and it does indeed go on in another short story (in a different anthology.) Hmm… I have the other anthology, and I was going to read it, but now I’m not, because I really don’t want to.
“By Consequence of Marriage”
I was not satisfied with this story. In this variation, Darcy was a day late in getting to Ramsgate, so Wickham ran of with Georgiana. Darcy arrives to Netherfield the day after the assembly, but in his distress over his sister he nearly runs Elizabeth over with his horse, breaking her ankle. They’re on their way to falling in love while he cares for her, but don’t say anything to anyone about it. And Mr. Collins shows up and is a dirtbag, and everyone seems to be on his side, at least from Elizabeth’s point of view. And there are plots involving marriages everywhere. This story also continues, in a different anthology. The Winter story kind of ended, but this one really had no good ending. It’s not even a cliffhanger. You could assume what will probably will happen if the author doesn’t throw too many twists in the story.
I feel like short stories should be complete in themselves, and these don’t feel like that, especially the last two. Perhaps the author should have just written one regular novel instead of breaking it up into pieces and publishing them as parts of a series. Her origins are in fanfiction, and that’s quite common to do in that medium, but not in published work, at least that’s how I feel about it. Maybe if these were written better, I would feel differently.
