[image error] Release Date 26th November 2019. Pre-order copies available NOW HERE or HERE 

I wrote ‘The End’ on this manuscript several months ago (not that it stays on the manuscript, of course – it’s just a pleasure finally to reach the end and write it down!) and have spent the intervening period editing. Many writers agree that editing is the hardest part of writing – going through your work with a fine tooth-comb, making corrections and improvements – and it is, without a doubt. With every review, I see something else that needs tweaking which usually means it takes me much longer to edit than to write; except life got in the way during the writing of this novel which took almost two years to get to ‘The End’: thankfully it didn’t take three times that long to edit.

Now that Felicity in Marriage has reached three books and so is now officially a ‘series’, I decided to take a leaf out of Winston Graham’s book, so to speak, and add a title as well as the FIM Part Three, just as he did with his Poldark series. So I had something else to consider as I niggled away at my draft: what title might hint at the plot-lines. There were many contenders, many I thought would work well, some even made it to the actual book draft and cover but, in the end, Discretion or Disgrace kept re-surfacing as the best choice. It gives enough of a hint without giving too much away.

For those who have not read the first two books, the Felicity in Marriage series starts when Pride and Prejudice finishes – that is after the weddings of Elizabeth and Darcy, and Jane and Bingley – and continues for six months into the following year. Many things happen in that short six months: settling into relationships and new responsibilities, and adjusting to new life circumstances – or not – in the case of Lydia and George Wickham.

Other than the Collins, the Wickhams are the most interesting couple, I believe, created by Austen in Pride and Prejudice because their future is so uncertain and because, of course, ‘bad’ characters are always far more interesting than the ‘good’. Austen allows readers to imagine their own conclusions for them at the end of Pride and Prejudice; the clues are there, it just depends on interpretation. All I had to do was take George and Lydia’s characters and give them the freedom to act as I believe they were destined to. It has been quite revealing.

Now, in Felicity in Marriage Part Three, the story has moved forward four years: Elizabeth and Darcy are happy in their life together with their daughter, Anne, as are Jane and Bingley, although they do not have a family as yet. Kitty is married to a clerk from Mr. Gardiner’s office, has just had a baby and lives in London; Georgiana Darcy has married a gentleman, a Mr. Jardine (who appeared in Wickham’s Wife quite extensively); and Anne de Bourgh is married, against her mother’s wishes, to a businessman named Mr. Sudbury. Apart from a few minor irritations and vexations, life has been pleasant and quiet for the last four years: too quiet, it turns out.

Discretion or Disgrace (Felicity in Marriage Part Three) is set in July and August of the year when suddenly – spectacularly – everything falls apart. Trouble appears and the Bennet family and all those associated with them must support each other if they are ever to regain their peaceful lives.

I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this third installment of Felicity in Marriage with all of its twists and turns, and I hope you will enjoy reading it just as much. For now, I shall leave the characters to their own devices – until the next time I decide to drop in on them and see what they’re up to, that is!

Check back soon to read the Prologue and other excerpts from Discretion or Disgrace. Enjoy!