By Lília
With the new Pride and Prejudice film coming to Netflix later this year, the story keeps popping up in my mind, reminding me of all the fan fiction I’ve read – not as many as I’d have liked! – and the one series I really enjoyed. If you love this book and are interested in reading some fan fiction, this is certainly one of the best of the bunch and I highly recommend it.
Pamela Aidan is well-known in the fan fiction world for her books around the Pride and Prejudice universe, mostly centered on Fitzwilliam Darcy during the time period of the novel, as well as a younger Darcy and Georgiana Darcy’s romantic endeavours. Her most known books are part of trilogy telling the story of Pride and Prejudice from Darcy’s point of view.
In the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy Pamela Aidan gives us a unique view of our beloved Jane Austen’s story. Divided into 3 books, Darcy tells us about his growing feelings for Elizabeth, his struggles with them, and how a chance encounter makes it possible for him to try to get her affection after her passionate refusal. Firstly self-published, it was such a success among Jane Austen’s fan fiction readers that publishing house Simon&Schuster took the plunge and bought the rights to publish the whole trilogy.
What I liked the most about this trilogy is the insight in Darcy’s thoughts and life. We learn about his struggles first hand, and are able to see him as a person, and not this mystical man that is passionately in love with Elizabeth and comes as a white knight to save the day. With these books Aidan shows us how real Darcy can be, and that he can make mistakes and learn from them.
An Assembly as Such “reintroduces us to Darcy during his visit to Hertfordshire with his friend Charles Bingley and reveals Darcy’s hidden perspective on the events of Pride and Prejudice. As Darcy spends more time at Netherfield supervising Bingley and fending off Miss Bingley’s persistent advances, his unwilling attraction to Elizabeth grows — as does his concern about her relationship with his nemesis, George Wickham.”
Duty and Desire “covers the “silent time” of Austen’s novel, revealing Darcy’s private struggle to overcome his attraction to Elizabeth while fulfilling his roles as landlord, master, brother, and friend. When Darcy pays a visit to an old classmate in Oxford in an attempt to shake Elizabeth from his mind, he is set upon by husband-hunting society ladies and ne’er-do-well friends from his university days, all with designs on him — some for good and some for ill. He and his sartorial genius of a valet, Fletcher, must match wits with them all, but especially with the curious Lady Sylvanie.”
These Three Remain “follows a humbled Darcy on the journey of self-discovery after Elizabeth Bennet’s rejection of his marriage proposal, in which he endeavors to grow into the kind of gentleman he’s always dreamed of being. Happily, a chance meeting with Elizabeth during a tour of his estate in Derbyshire offers Darcy a new opportunity to press his suit, but his newfound strengths are put to the test by an old nemesis, George Wickham.”
