Monica Fairview: The Other Mr. Darcy

After it was finally possible to download Kindle ebooks on Jane Austen's birthday, I immediately had to start to

read them. I downloaded four of the ten Sourcebooks novels.

    * The Darcys & the Bingleys by Marsha Altman
    * The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Ann Collins
    * The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview
    * Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy by Abigail Reynolds

I finished 'The Darcy's and the Bingleys' last Saturday, reading it through in almost one day. And I love it! It was funny, entertaining, well written, witty, very Jane Austen-ish and addictive. So the series must be bought in it's whole. I'm not sure yet, if I will buy them all as ebooks or as paperbacks...

Over Xmas I finished reading 'The Other Mr. Darcy'. I had no idea what the book was about. It was a pleasant surprise though to read about Caroline Bingley and her development into a lovely character. Thank you Monica Fairview!
The author achieved to keep me in suspense all through the book, with surprises on every page. I liked how she wrote and how close she stayed to Jane Austen's style and the characters she created. But I also liked very much indeed how she had the others evolve or stay as they always were: Lydia is still scandal personified. Mrs Bennet still annoying, Mr Darcy and Elizabeth still wonderfully lovely and Jane and Bingley still charming. Louisa was quite a stranger to me, but very convincing. I pitied poor Colonel Fitzwilliam and hated Sir Cecil. Caroline's and Robert's process of opening up towards each other and their quarrels were entertaining and very believeable. They might be real persons nowadays...

Unpredicatable courtships appear to run in the Darcy family...
In this Pride and Prejudice sequel with a difference, Caroline Bingley is our heroine. Caroline is sincerely broken-hearted when Mr. Darcy marries Lizzy Bennet— that is, until she meets his American cousin…
Mr. Robert Darcy is as charming as Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy is proud, and he is stunned to find Caroline weeping at his cousin's wedding. Caroline, caught in a moment of extreme vulnerabilty, intends to put as much distance between them as possible, preferably a whole ocean. But events bring them together, and they must make the best of a bad situation.
As for romance, that is the last thing they could possibly expect...

So now I'm off to amazon and buy the sequel to the sequel: The Darcy Cousins.

Picture credit @ amazon.co.uk

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Merry Xmas

Merry Xmas von Emmeline Cartwright

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Marsha Altman: The Darcys & the Bingleys

After it was finally possible to download Kindle ebooks on Jane Austen's birthday, I immediately had to start to read them. I downloaded four of the ten Sourcebooks novels.

Here is the list of titles that were available:

    * Eliza’s Daughter by Joan Aiken
    * The Darcys & the Bingleys by Marsha Altman
    * Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll
    * What Would Jane Austen Do? by Laurie Brown
    * The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Ann Collins
    * The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview
    * Mr. Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange
    * Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One by Sharon Lathan
    * Lydia Bennet’s Story by Jane Odiwe
    * Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy by Abigail Reynolds

I have already read the Linda Berdoll book, as well as the Sharon Lathan sequels. They are available in my local library, like some other sequels. I have read them all, I admit. But the two books above are not to my liking. But I don't want to comment, as tastes are different!

Two other books I have already read and love, are Jane Odiwe's novel and Mr. Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange. I have them as Paperbacks and would have loved to have them on my Kindle too. But they weren't available in my region. As was the case with Joan Aikens sequel. I couldn't figure out how to download the Google Books, so I missed them; all the other file versions are of no use, because I don't like to read on PC.

Finally I bought:

    * The Darcys & the Bingleys by Marsha Altman
    * The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Ann Collins
    * The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview
    * Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy by Abigail Reynolds

I finished 'The Darcy's and the Bingleys' on Saturday, reading it through in almost one day. And I love it! It was funny, entertaining, well written, witty, very Jane Austen-ish and addictive. So the series must be bought in it's whole. I'm not sure yet, if I will buy them all as ebooks or as paperbacks...

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

What I like about the Kindle is the 'Notes & Marks' option and therefore I want to list my favourite passages. As there are only Locations, I will refer to them. All rights are of course those of the author, Marsha Altman, and of Sourcebooks (with a wonderful service team btw!):

[Darcy to Elizabeth] Loc. 395 - 'Elizabeth, the best thing I can think of to say is that if there was no fun to be had of it at all, the world would not be nearly so populated.'

[Mr Bennet to his daughters before their wedding] Loc. 1088 - If you are to have children, do make sure the servants have your husbands sitting down.'

[Darcy to Col. Fitzwilliam before the wedding and after he and Bingley have thrown Wickham out of a second storey window] Loc. 1129 - 'Oh no,' Darcy said, 'Enough people have gone out the window today. Lead on, Fitzwilliam.'

[Mrs Gardiner to her husband and his reply] Loc. 1144 - 'I am so very glad we visited the grounds of Pemberley.' 'Yes, the fishing was exquisite.'

[about Bingley] Loc. 1255 - He had that dashing young 'I am so exciting, my hair is tryng to escape from my head, and it is a hopeless case' unintentional style that was so adorable.'

[Bingley to Jane] Loc. 1422 - 'Jane, dearest, I could never say no to you', he added, 'And I have a feeling that you know it.'

[Lizzie to Darcy about writing to her mother according to tell her Lizzie's with child] Loc. 1477 - Will you do me a favour of writing her a quick response that I am and that she should stop asking?' 'Anything you - what?'

[Mr Bennet arriving at Pemberley] Loc. 1558 - Even far away from the entrance, he took off his hat as if he were entering church.'

[Darcy about Georgiana] Loc. 1766 - 'She'll be 17 when I damn well say she is!'

[Darcy to Lizzie about his contribution in creating their son] Loc. 1843 - 'All the work?' he said. 'There was at least... an hour of my time spent on... this,' he said, cradling his son.

[a muddleheaded Darcy in response to Lizzie's and Bingley's question if he wants to marry Miss Caroline Bingley] Loc. 3053 - 'What? He blinked. 'No! No... he's a nice man, but no. I'm too tall for him.'

[about Caroline and Dr Maddox standing in the hallway alone] Loc. 3164 - ... 'which was most improper for two unmarried adults of oppostite genders and a great deal of affection.'

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The young Goethe

Young law student Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is in love with Lotte, but Albert Kestner also laid an eye on her. Note that he was not yet enobled by the time the movie is set...

***

It is the year 1772. The young Johann Goethe (Alexander Fehling) studied law in Strasbourg, although he studies a lot less seriously than the other things of life.  So it happens that the young fellow doesn't pass the doctoral exam and his father (Henry Hübchen) sends him to the provincial town of Wetzlar.  Goethe learns, what is really important in life.

Definitely a movie I will watch more than once and will anticipate the DVD release. And now: off to the movie theater!

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Visiting a village in 1813

I always envy you guys in UK and US for your great reenactment events! So I took the opportunity today to visit one right around the corner. In 1813 Napoleon had the charming idea of coming to Saxony to visit Leipzig. Well, I can perfectly understand his sentiments. It's still a wonderful town. As it is common knowledge in 1813 happened some tiny battle of the nations near Leipzig, where our late emperor William II had errected an enormous memorial in 1913. So we are close to the 200, respectively 100 year mark of celebrating first the battle (????) and secondly the memory of it (!!!!!). There is also a historical society here preserving that memory and reenacting battle and daily life etc.
And there we went today: to the village of Liebertwolkwitz near Leipzig. Every year they hold an 1813-event and setting back their village into that year. It was interesting, though I had to smile at some strange costume combinations that were not exactly historical..

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Review: J. Becton - Charlotte Collins

This is a long time promised review of a Pride & Prejudice sequel about the minor character Charlotte Collins.

As I am working a lot these days, it is just now, that I sat down writing this. Sorry Jennifer for delaying it. You deserved a much faster way of praising your book. Though I know many other people already wrote about it and we all are sure, you're going to get that contract! It is also thrilling to read, that it is sold in various independent bookstores. Congratulations.

***
I had read the online chapter before I ordered the book and was seriously taken with the writing style and the way I though the plot would develop. When I finally got the book, and it had a quite long way to travel, I immediately started reading it. And I love it! I do not know how many P&P sequels, prequels, spin offs and whatnot I have already read. But they're many, I assure you! When writing myself, I usually get sidetracked with minor characters (something I got infected by a Finnish writer friend!) and also when reading it is only a matter of time that I wonder what all these interesting people are up to and especially when the happily ever after occured.
Charlotte Collins, neé Lucas, was such a character. I understood her everytime I read P&P but at the same time pitied her fot the life she must have led. In many sequels about the Darcys and Bingleys, she is dealt with, but again just in a minor role. I was always unsatisfied with her development, if there was some. Mr. Collins was usually used as the comical figure he is, and Charlotte as the antipode to Elizabeth's happiness and felicity. From nowadays point of view one usually also pities her for the marital life she had to have lead with Mr. Collins. Ah, shiverings down the spine... Poor woman. But in this book, I was happy to see her progress from this reasonable woman to a heroine one loves. I adore her for her mistakes and her faults and can see many a hint to other characters in P&P. The newly introduced ladies and gentlemen are very well outlined and though one is quite set about the outcome who is evil and who is good, the story is positively captivating and I was excited through the whole reading until it unfortunately ended. But 'tis always with good books: they end some time. In that case it is recommended to start afresh, which I did just a couple of days ago, or hope that there's going to be a continuation. (For example with the Heyer book. I am intoxicated now and had to order the Black Moth series straight away.)
In case of Jennifer Bectons first novel, I am convinced it won't be the last and I am looking forward to the next!

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Review: G. Heyer - The Black Moth

I'm not a great review writer. Nevertheless I wanted to write about the first Georgette Heyer Book I have read*. I came across this author via you twitter guys and had to try if I liked her. On various blogs I read that the first experience of a Heyer book will either lead to love her or just not. When I started the Black Moth, which I got as an ebook, I had no idea what to expect. I hardly knew in which time it was set. Only until I reached the end of the first half of the novel I got to know. The hints she dropped then were unmistakably. The Pompadour, Elizabeth Gunning... There! Finally got it. But all the while reading the first half and being kind of in the dark, I dressed the characters in the right fashion. I have to reread it though, as I apparently skipped the prologue. But it might have been the Kindle that switched to the first chapter...
Another extraordinary fact Georgette Heyer's book had upon me, that I really had not the slightest clue where the plot was leading to. I didnt read any reviews or a single synopsis. Being puzzled until the story really started in the second half I wondered about her strange way of writing and plotting. But now, seriously!, I love it and adore her.
My favourite part is in chapter, ah, let me get the Kindle to check...., is in chapter 24: 'Richard plays the Man'. "You shall not leave me! Do you understand? I cannot live without you!" ... ""Oh, please, please forgive me and keep me with you!" - - - They are so wonderful. I quite resented her childish ways in the beginning, then I pitied her enormously, but meanwhile I quite like her. The Belmanoirs are an interesting lot, especially Tracy, of whom I would love to read a sequel. Is there one? I have no idea, because Georgette Heyer wrote so many books. Presently I will write a list and try to get my hands on her work asap.

Update: Just saw, that the story is continued in 'These old Shades'.
1921 - The Black Moth
1926 - These Old Shades
1932 - Devil's Cub
1937 - An Infamous Army

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* It was her first novel. Stunning, did not expect that!

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Quote

 

They are, generally speaking, the most happy women in the world [due to the good nature of Englishmen towards their Wives].

(Edward Chamberlayne: Angliae Notitia. in: Maureen Waller: 1700, Scenes from London Life. Sceptre, 2001, page 35.)

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June 25th, 2010

The staff of the Leyland Manor Research Center and the author of the Leyland Manor Diary proudly announce the new Project Homepage: The Leyland Manor Project at Google Sites. The Research Center will soon move completely to the Project Page and will close it's Blogger Adress. You are of course welcome to the new Homepage and we are looking forward to your contributions and feedback!

LM-staff

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Quote

Meiner Meinung nach ist der Mensch in einem stetigen Wandel, auf einer immerwährenden Erfahrungsreise - die Einzigen, die dies nicht merken, sind Menschen, die Scheuklappen aufhaben und somit die Dinge nicht an ihnen vorbeirauschen sehen. Und so dreht sich das Rad immer weiter, die alte Generation hetzt gegen die neue, ohne zu verstehen, worum es eigentlich geht: Neue Techniken und neue kulturelle Prozesse bieten immer Chancen zur negativen und positiven Gestaltung unserer Gesellschaft.

In my opinion people are in a steady change, on an eternal trip of experience - the only ones who do not notice this, are people who wear blinkers and therefore do not see the things rushing past them. And thus the wheel turns on and on, the old generation scolding the new without understanding what it is, actually, about: New technologies and new cultural processes always offer chances to the negative and positive creation of our society.

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