What awaited Elizabeth Bennet after her marriage to Mr. Darcy?
This richly imagined continuation of Pride and Prejudice begins where Jane Austen’s beloved novel ends. Told in Elizabeth’s own voice, it follows her through the opening months of married her arrival in London, the pleasures and perils of her first Season in 1813, the demands of family loyalty, and the discoveries of love newly tested by society’s expectations.
Written with wit, warmth, and fidelity to Austen’s spirit, Becoming Mrs. Darcy returns readers to the company of Elizabeth and Darcy – not as figures frozen at the close of a tale, but as living characters whose story is only beginning.
Volume I spans the first three months of 1813, from January to March, and includes an essential timeline and historical references in the Appendix.
From Julia B. Grantham, author of Mr. Darcy’s Guide to Pemberley.
Praise for Becoming Mrs. Darcy:
"It is a beautifully written story. Immersive and totally credible, it captures the spirit and authenticity of the characters so perfectly, you half expect Mr Darcy to walk into the room where you are reading." — Cass Grafton, Author
“You have the ability to transport us back to the 19th century, and to speak with assurance through the voice of Elizabeth Darcy. Pure escapism!” — Jane Glover
“As always, regarding a story that ends, ‘and they lived happily ever after,’ one wonders, ‘but what happened next?’ … It is such a pleasure to read ‘what happened next’ in Pride and Prejudice through this excellent storyteller.” — Judith Howard
“I feel as though I am reading another novel by Jane Austen, continuing the lives of the people in Pride and Prejudice. The actions and dialogue ring true to the original characters, and the plot keeps me just as engaged.” — Marie Giacobetti
“This is one of the most delightful continuations of Pride & Prejudice I have read.” — Edwin Nealley
Perfection is rarely improved upon so seamlessly as that it doesn’t seem like a sequel—here we are blessed with a rare occurrence: it feels like these chapters are merely lost chapters from Jane Austin’s own hand, that her book Pride and Prejudice never ended with a wedding but continued on with the complicated plot of entering a social circle vastly different than the one Lizzy was in only months before and of life continuing now with Wickham as a brother in-law still playing the victim and still out to get the house of Darcy. Trust me—this sequel is WORTH your time!!
This book is the story of Elizabeth Bennet after she marries Darcy. Told in the first person by Elizabeth, it comprises her first few months of married life. Unfortunately, marrying well doesn’t entirely remove Lizzy from the chaos of the Bennet household.
The author’s stated aim is to release the book in segments as Austen did with her original novel. However, since the author released a good portion of the book as a teaser on Facebook prior to its actual release, I had read most of it there, hence my disappointment with the brevity of this segment.
That said, this installment was delightful. The characters were true to Austen’s work, the prose was in line with Austen’s style, and even the font was chosen to be as near to that common in the 19th century as possible. I honestly can’t wait for the next installment.
Julia Grantham's work is far and away the best JAFF I've read, because she captures Lizzy's voice so authentically. Reading Becoming Mrs Darcy, it's easy to forget that the newly-minted Mrs Darcy is a fictional character, much less a fictional character written by anyone other than her original creator. This volume covers all the material on the author's Elizabeth Bennet Facebook page, which I happily discovered recently. Of course, with a built-in fan base, she will now be plagued with readers demanding more, and quickly, if you please. And I shall be right there in the middle of them.
I had been following this author on FB, what I thought were excepts. I bought the book and discovered she had published the whole thing, bit by bit, on FB and there really was nothing added to the book. I really like the story she came up with and look forward to seeing where the next sections go, but I was expecting more development in the book. In a book format, the good story comes across as slight, and I think Elizabeth has lost some of her spirit, particularly when dealing with her mother and Lydia. Nevertheless, this book is an interesting take and more sensible to the times than many of this genre.
I am an Austen purist: I love her writing style and the way she weaves a story. I am always disappointed when.someone tries to reate a sequelor continuation of a great book (or books, fot Austen). No disappointment here Becoming Mrs. Darcy is a wonderful book. It brought back the joy of reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time. This book is a must read and I excitedly wait for the next one! Buy it! Read it!
I've seen other Pride and Prejudice sequels - most aren't worth the paper they are printed on. (The exception IMO is P.D. James' Death Comes to Pemberley.) But Julia Grantham has captured Jane Austin's style in a 21st century readable style. Both plot and characters are great, and the pacing is well done - not too fast and not too slow. An excellent read, and I am looking forward to Book 2.
Jane Austen fan fictions abound, but this carefully researched and written sequel (1st of 3 volumes) is among the very best at maintaining Austen's characters, their language and very logical next steps of what might come next.
Kudos to Julia B. Grantham for not succumbing to the temptations of modern language, or different genre, but in offering us what the Austen fan most desires, more of a very good thing.
I had read snippets of this book on the author's Facebook page, but it was hard to follow the continuity one or two paragraphs at a time, so I was thrilled to be able to read the whole volume 1, usually a chapter a day, sometimes more. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and can't wait for the other two volumes!
This book envisions Elizabeth Darcy's life after P&P. Besides being a delightful story, the author included an Appendix addressing many concepts of the time, giving historical context to the book.
A very interesting story with Elizabeth speaking in the first person - a pleasant alteration from the original and most variations. The book was well-researched and well-written and I enjoyed it very much
I enjoyed this,sequel to Pride and Prejudice a great deal and look forward to reading the second volume. The author has Jane Austen’s voice in her prose. The author has a good sense of history of Elizabeth's time period
Stayed true to the ending of Austin's "Pride and Prejudice". Easy 'old English' type wording. It is evident that a good amount of research went into this book! I am excited for more should there be additional works in this series!
I enjoyed the book and do recommend it. And I think the direction the author chose is a natural direction that night have occurred. But I wanted more Darcy and definitely more interaction with Lizzie. Maybe book 2?
Grantham does an excellent job of writing in Elizabeth's voice, and the other characters are also true to Austen's work -- at least, if one decides to assume the best of Mr. Darcy. . . .
Fun continuation of Pride and Prejudice covering the months after the marriage of Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, written in the style of Jane Austen. Part 1 of 3.