Georgiana Darcy was mentioned several times in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice but we never got to know much about her other than she was a great piano player and she was very shy. This book gives us a deeper look into the young girl's life through her diary entries. When it begins, a year has passed since Darcy and Lizzie got married. The great hunt for a husband for Georgiana has begun with Lady Catherine at the helm. She is determined to get Georgiana engaged before she goes back to Rosings. Georgiana, however, is already in love...with someone she has known most of her life. The only problem is that she thinks he'll never see her like she sees him.I felt like the author kept the characters true to their Pride and Prejudice selves. At least, no one acted so wildly out of character that they stuck out. The character of Georgiana went through a pretty big change in a short period of time. In the beginning of the book she was the shy, timid character we met before but by the end she was standing up to Lady Catherine herself. It felt a little fast to me, but not so fast that it was unbelievable.
The only thing that kept me from giving this four stars was that it dragged a little from time to time and the ending felt very incomplete to me. I kept hoping it wasn't really the end and there was an epilogue somewhere. This book really needed an epilogue to truly finish the story. As it was left, we assume we know what happened but we don't know for sure. I like to know for sure. :o)
Buy Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice continued [Kindle Edition] Now
Georgiana Darcy's Diary begins in the Spring of 1814, a pastime that Georgiana takes in response to the aggravation and boredom she feels at her Aunt de Bourgh's insistence on finding her a suitable, reputable husband. Georgiana is 18 years old, and Pemberley, the home that she shares with her brother and his wife Elizabeth, is bustling with guests, most of whom have been invited by Aunt de Bourgh to rustle for Georgiana's hand in marriage.But Georgiana Darcy doesn't want to marry just anyone, and she certainly isn't going to marry someone who has no interest in her save for her fortune. Georgiana wants the romantic dream that her brother Fitzwilliam and his wife Elizabeth found in each other, yet she fears the man she is in love with will not feel the same of her.
Georgiana starts out as a shy and insecure girl not quite ready to step into womanhood. However, as the story develops so does Georgiana: Through her associations with the Pemberley guests, Georgiana becomes more open, more confident, and more certain of what it is she wants, and more determined to secure it. in discovering her own voice she is able to move on from her indiscretion with George Wickham; helps her sickly cousin Anne discover life and love; stands up to her demanding Aunt de Bourgh; and at the end of the story declares herself a woman who has found her perfect gentleman.
In writing Georgiana Darcy's Diary, Anna Elliott has taken an important yet undeveloped character from Austen's masterpiece and given her those sentiments I would have expected her to have had Austen developed the character more herself. A quick read, Georgiana Darcy's Diary was a fun Regency romance that left me smiling, just as Austen's Pride & Prejudice has done so many times before.I'm sorry that I cannot give this book a higher rating. I love Pride and Prejudice, and I enjoyed reading about Pemberley again in this book. I appreciated the author's note at the beginning--that she "simply can't get enough of Jane Austen and her world." She stated quite frankly that she couldn't "begin to match Jane Austen's immortal style, and wouldn't even pretend to try." I like her honesty, and as an author I understand the predicament, and I kept her statement in mind as I read. However, though the beginning of the book felt somewhat connected to Pride and Prejudice, the characters became more and more modern as the book went on, so that by the end of the book we were no longer in Jane Austen's world. Georgiana, Colonel Fitzwilliam, Caroline Bingley, Lady Cathrine de Bourgh, and her daughter Anne all undergo such a fundamental change in character that they are no longer recognizable as the same people we read about in Pride and Prejudice. The social mores also shift to embrace modern understanding and behavior. Georgiana Darcy's Diary is also inconsistent with some of the indications Jane Austen gave of the future in the last chapter of Pride and Prejudice, particularly regarding Kitty Bennet spending a lot of her time at Pemberley and Mr. Bennet's love of going to Pemberley "especially when he was least expected."
Want Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice continued [Kindle Edition] Discount?
A compelling story, with all the characters you love, and all the characters you love to hate. A lovely continuation of Jane Austen's story!
