With the estate entailed away from the Bennet women, Elizabeth and her family must leave behind the only home they have ever known and begin again in a small cottage near Lambton. Reduced circumstances demand economy, endurance, and more practical strength than any of them have ever been expected to possess.
Then Mr Darcy becomes their neighbour.
In Derbyshire, far from Meryton and everything familiar, Elizabeth discovers a different kind of life: quieter, harder, and more intimate. As she and Darcy are drawn into each other’s daily orbit, admiration deepens into something far more dangerous. But affection cannot erase grief, and love alone may not be enough to protect a woman with little fortune and too much to lose.
With her family’s future uncertain and the world still ready to judge every step, Elizabeth must decide whether she dares trust the one man she never expected to need.
A Cottage Near Lambton is a tender, emotionally rich Pride and Prejudice variation about grief, home, and love quietly finding its way.
There are no words to express the satisfaction this book gave me!
There was no sentence I skipped, no internal monolog that bored me! No unnecessary descriptions, there is room to interpretation, but with clarity!
This was done beautifully, lovingly!
We were also permitted to see details of gentle poverty, the struggle of the daily life, the loosing one's place in society but also the kindness and reception of others!
The story itself is a good concept. But if you like dialogue, you won't find much of it here. I was constantly frustrated by missed opportunities for conversation between characters. Descriptions were repeated. Actions were given feelings instead of the feelings themselves. Many chapters had twice as much description as necessary but not nearly enough dialogue. When finally Elizabeth and Darcy come together....well the author just says basically, Darcy said pretty words. Very frustrating.
Not flawless, but the style makes up for the slight errors. This author utilizes scene setting where most JAFF authors pay it short shrift, and she makes the environs part of the story continuously and effortlessly, without overdoing it, enhancing the reader experience exponentially. On another tack, the usual ubiquitous banter and introspection of JAFF novels are disregarded in favour of a style quite reminiscent of Austen: very cerebral, without giving all away early. Instead, we are left to read between the lines. D's character is totally Austen in his solemnness, and E takes the points from canon where Lydia was gone and she had to become an adult. These departures from the usual light JAFF personalities will undoubtedly jar a few readers, but I found the depth a fresh new way of reading, carrying with it a subtle tension that's hard to write. I cried at the climax, and books these days rarely incite such a visceral reaction from me. 5 plus plus stars.
This is a P&P variation but also so much more. This is a true character study. The story does not have the same impact as some variations, but rather has a depth a emotion and character bleeding through as we follow the year of mourning Mr Bennet’s death and the adjustment of reduced circumstances. Very well written.
So I really liked the premise of this book but something about the writing seemed off. I didn’t feel like it flowed naturally and was weirdly disjointed in places. It almost felt AI to me in places. There was also a lot of repeating the same things in slightly different ways which made the story drag.
I also would have loved actual meaningful dialogue between Elizabeth and both Darcy and Mr. Ashton. Everything felt very shallow between them.
I will say I really enjoyed all of the portrayals of the Bennets, very sweet. I liked how Mrs. Bennet, Kitty and Lydia were toned down just enough to still seem like themselves without being over the top.
I loved this. As a P&P fan, I thought this was a lovely adaption. It was true to the original whilst finding its own feet. Gentle, comforting and someone has already stated, like a warm hug in a book. For those who crave more P&P, this won’t disappoint.
Extremely well written, characters who were engaging, provoking, & compelling. The Bennet women in drastically changed circumstances, must learn to adapt, adjust, accept loss, & make a new beginning.
A very measured story which follows the Bennet ladies to a new home near Lambton after Mr Bennet passes and they remove from Longbourn. A few non-canon characters add to the plot as we watch Darcy, Bingley, Jane and Elizabeth find romance while helping Georgiana mature sensibly. No surprises and a pleasant read.
A surprisingly pleasant read, albeit it comes across as a draft still (and a very promising one!) because of (+)a handful of mistakes that should not have passed through the barrier of a thorough critical read OR an editorial process.
Mistakes go beyond a typo or a misplaced word; a few errors I recall include a sentence implying Mrs. Darcy is alive (she was not), Mr Darcy acting shocked about seeing Elizabeth out of mourning when we just read several times when they had met after the Bennet ladies are said to be already out of mourning/half mourning. But even further from this, sentences kept repeating; Kitty, Mary and Bingley all said things more than once, like a Matrix glitch (the same sentence with slight modification said again in separate paragraphs, with a bit of a slant in circumstansces around it, so it’s unlikely that such repetition was there by intent). For ex: the description of one farewell which happens three times in varying configurations, once inside, at the door, and at the stairs. Darcy describing the streams of Derbyshire to Mr. Gardiner as a novelty, when we read how the Gardiners just went there a few months prior to deliver the Bennets (Mrs. Gardiner still has family there, which is the reason for the whole move in the first place!).
Dialogue was not open but mysterious, “proper” (the author’s favorite word!), lots of insinuation and subtle, open-ended lines. It was not totally unpleasant, it can be attributed to style (where everything is undeclared and “slow burn”), but it could get irritating that characters’ sentiments were seldom acknowledged even to themselves, until quite late into the story.
Now into the positives:
This rendition of the “Mr Bennet is dead” trope was smartly planned; the narration of leaving Longbourn, the emotional and financial fragility, the painful dependency, the Bennet ladies feeling so much, grieving, losing their home, receiving charity, their journey until becoming “settled” in Lambton was very well executed >> very emotional, believable, and serving as a sound stepping stone for the rest of the story.
The careful crafting of Lambton society had some well picked inspiration from the Dashwood women’s welcome into their cottage, of the thoughtful charity offered to the Bates by Mr. Knightley, and the socially expected/assumed courtship between Emma and Mr. Churchill. These plotlines were well adapted and uniquely developed for this specific story, they were credible and well crafted, not forced or copypasted.
The author is capable of planning turningpoints for the story which are staged from the start via a few breadcrumbs early on (a smoking hearth, an empoverished cousin, an invalid old lady); but on the other hand, some puzzling points of the story are repeatedly highlighted without reason. Georgiana is described as pathologically reticent, so much so that everyone is surprised/proud/encouraging every time she speaks — why??? I kept expecting some explanation for old trauma, but it never came, the reason for this Georgiana’s shyness/insecurity are a mystery, because she didn’t even go through her near elopement in this story (she does go to Ramsgate with her Bennet friends, which was nicely written and it even connected with Elizabeth’s own internal turmoil at that moment).
After the Bennet family settle in their cottage and into the neighborhood, Elizabeth is de-facto courted by an eligible bachelor, at the same time as the girls befriend Georgiana + her brother. We know/suspect there is some attraction between E+D, but their interactions are always “proper”, polite, very brief, and mostly abrupt/interrupted. Jane comments about noticing something there, and Elizabeth sort of acknowledges her feelings, but no one declares if it’s socially unlikely, or practically delusional. The official line is that the year of mourning prevents everyone from thinking much of any potential relationship.
Meanwhile, Darcy is doing a lot of showing rather than telling by quietly taking care of the Bennet ladies’ comfort, and while we do read some of his private feelings, he is never explicit about his hopes/wishes for Elizabeth — he seems to be perfectly passive about her being quietly courted by some other gentleman, and we don’t see how much weight he allocates to abysmal differences of wealth or rank. Maybe this was a purposeful choice, but it was a tiny bit angsty to expect and to remain in the dark about it.
The story deals very naturally with the improvement of the younger Bennet girls, explained quite believably and “unforcedly” by their mourning, newfound maturity, responsibility, and the nurturing neighbors who welcomed them so warmly in Lambton.
It was a pleasant read; and most of the editorial mistakes can be skipped over with a little warning !
I'm tempted to adjust all my previous reviews for this author down a star just because I love this one SO MUCH. It starts slow. Really really slow. But since Sense and Sensibility is my favourite Jane Austen and there's some Emma in there as well, it shouldn't be surprising how much I loved this. Pride and Prejudice is only my fifth favourite Austen, so if you're not that into it specifically you'll probably enjoy this. And if it is your favourite, you should read this because it's beautiful. I have a new favourite Austen character who isn't actually an Austen character . This is definitely getting added to the reread pile.
A really novel approach where the Bennet family starts a completely new life and the reader gets to be a witness to their struggles and how they cope. A most interesting book!
This book for me stands as a prime example of a talented writer who desperately needs a literary agent and editor. Ms Tolson has a gift for a particular kind of phrasing and metaphor, but she employs it to excess. Her writing descends from charming to annoying to tedious.
As for plot, it is relentlessly gentle. Even the two instances of peril are got over so quickly and easily the reader feels cheated. The dialogue is so subtle, so understated—especially Elizabeth’s—that emotions and intentions are nearly impossible to discern.
Georgiana is endowed with all the awkward fragility we’ve seen portrayed in other adaptations, but without explanation, since the Ramsgate incident is completely reworked and occurs much later. I could give dozens of examples, but the book was so enervating, I lack the energy to do so.
I’ve never read a novel that was, line by line, so uniformly well-composed, and so unremittingly dull.
I kept reading because one reviewer said Darcy’s proposal made her cry… but the story was quite boring to me. There was very little build up to the question. No romance, no lingering looks, no sighs of suspense. No pride. No prejudice. This story had very little resemblance to the original and I sometimes wonder why the author didn’t just make it an original. I did not cry during the proposal. This is a clean read and not poorly written, just very slow.
This one of the most beautifully written stories I have read. The imagery is exquisite and thought provoking. With an artist’s gentle touch, she tenderly reveals quiet thoughts and musings, affairs of the heart and words unspoken. “…thinking that there were calls which altered nothing, and calls which were remembered long after they were over.” The sweet version unfurled all the tender emotions of Persuasion yet applied them to Elizabeth and Darcy. Excellent from beginning to end.
I liked this story very much but the author a habit of repition through out the book. The person thinks a thought then tells the thought to someone then repeats it to another person , so the result is the reader reads the same thing 3 times in 2 to 3 pages. No imo an enhancement to the work.
What a delightful variation of Pride and Prejudice. I can’t get enough of regency stories full of my favorite characters. In this version Mr. Bennet has died, the family has financial difficulties and must move to Lambton. I won’t write more about the plot, just know that it is interesting and I recommend the book to Austenites.
This has an interesting premise, and I want to like it. But it's not only a wide departure from the original, in that it doesn't have the classic features of Pride and Prejudice, including the initial dislike of Elizabeth for Darcy, but it is also steeped, no drowning, in minutiae. I love a long book, if it really has the content to make it a long book, but this one seems to take "show, don't tell" to extremes. There are times I'm in the mood as a reader for that kind of detail, but I wasn't when I read this, so maybe it just wasn't a good read for me at the time. I also found the amount of time inside Elizabeth's head somewhat tedious, because she kept going over the same questions, and she seemed to actually consider marrying a man she had no affection for whatsoever. There is nothing technically wrong with the writing, that I recall. It took forever to get through, for not really enough story to justify all those pages, and it didn't have that P&P feeling I look for in these variations.
The words leave a watercolor memory, more of impressions than actions. Thoughtful feelings, and a chance for Mary and Lydia to shine as well. Apricot and Pudding. ☺️
No, I don't believe there is any place where people actually welcome, value, and accept strangers. Humans are too much alike for that! But it was fun and enjoyable to pretend for a moment that there might be.
This book has such peacefulness, such restraint to it, that I can only call it reverent. Love, loss, excitement, despair — all are treated with this same, inward-looking contemplation. It may not be everyone’s preference, but I loved it.
The death of Mr Bennett necessitates a move by the Bennett women to a cottage in Lambton, found through a relation of Mrs Gardiner. The relation is one of their new neighbors, and assists the family in making new acquaintances, and in getting a warm welcome in general. Darcy is a neighbor, and meets Elizabeth as she's walking one morning. He's quickly attracted to her, but there's eventually another man in the area that's interested in her.
It's an interesting premise, and I must credit the author with wonderful writing and storytelling. There are, however, a few issues that lessened my enjoyment of the book. This is a rather long story, and I felt that it really didn't need to be so long. Every bit of dialogue, every gesture or facial expression, even every room's furnishings are all analyzed and detailed with poetic exactness. There are so many metaphors and similes that I started to skim large portions of the text. It's excessive. Then there's the romance, or rather the lack of it. Because the Bennett family is in mourning for their father/husband, that explains it in part. However, all interactions are extremely wooden and uncomfortable. There's no banter, hardly much dialogue at all, and what there is, is clipped, terse, and completely emotion free. I expected, rather than detected, the attraction between Elizabeth and Darcy, and I sorely missed the give and take.
Could have used another round of editing for my taste, but a peaceful and more poetic writing style, which is not always for me. Interesting direction to the story, but set in a mourning period made it necessarily more slow.
The author prefaces this by saying she did not use AI in creating the text, however, I have my doubts with how flowery the text is, how a few sentences don't make sense, certain AI-favoured structures, as well as the need to give every character in the scene some description.
Besides it, I just didn't buy it. I like the idea of Bennets losing Mr Bennet before P&P narration starts, and moving to Lambton to live there. However, 400 a year was very decent money in Regency England. I think Austens lived on 600 and they had a carriage (which means horses and someone to take care of horses)? Here they cannot even employ a maid full-time and feel the need to learn to cook. They might not be able to afford a manservant (not that the novel notes the difference between a female servant and a manservant), but they would definitely be able to afford a girl and a cook full time, with maybe another girl coming in sometimes (especially since they note their rent was only 50). And what I especially don't buy is the insta-love. Darcy saw Elizabeth on a walk and immediately fell for her looks and is looking for any opportunity to get close to her. And he quite openly courts her (tells her he'll only come to a dinner if she'll be there). She hasn't spoken to him, she hasn't said anything witty, she hasn't looked at him with disdain and amusement, yet he's a man gone.
This is the case of a lady who prefaces her book that AI has not been used in its creation and given the other reviews I came across on Goodreads and Amazon, I can see why she would feel the need to do so.
But I beg to differ, very strongly and here is why.
Let me explain to you, readers, how this is clearly and blatantly written with AI despite the protest of its author.
Let's take a look at the first two pages only. I hope this will help future readers to have more discernment as the two first pages alone contain several distinct hallmarks of generative AI writing.
The overused AI Metaphors
"...light crept softly... its thin gold ribbons touching only the edges... as though wary of intruding..." "...inside, silence pressed upon every room.""...Even the air seemed to hold its breath."
AI has favorite bucket of poetic imagery it pulls from for sad or atmospheric scenes.
"Light creeping softly," "gold ribbons" of light, and personified elements like "wary light" or "air holding its breath" appear constantly in AI-generated fiction.
" Air holding its breath." you will note, does not make any sense. There are many of those nonsense throughout the story if you read closely. The personified elements are legion. If you care to read fanfiction on fanfiction websites, you would see that many current writers use the same exact moody, atmospheric language. Quite a troubling coincidence don't you think?
The Sentence Structure
"..muted, for once, by circumstance rather than instruction...""...an unspoken conversation between sisters who understood that hope could sometimes be more dangerous than despair."
AI loves "this rather than that". The famous " it's not X, it'Y". You can check the wikipedia article quoting the New York times Magazine " Why AI writes like that? " on explaining this phenomenon, a real struggle for AI not to produce.
Another AI sentence structure you can find in her text - The rule of three. Everywhere, all the time.
From Wikipedia
" LLMs overuse the 'rule of three'. This can take different forms, from "adjective, adjective, adjective" to "short phrase, short phrase, and short phrase"
Human writers use this occasionally, AI overuses it and you can count plenty of these across all her books. The phrase "an unspoken conversation between sisters who understood " is another sentence structure that is found in AI generated text and in Bethany Tolson's, it appears very very frequently.
The characters.
“Jane poured the tea with a quiet steadiness... Kitty and Lydia whispered together... while Mary read a devotional passage under her breath...”
AI goes down a checklist to make sure every character gets in the spotlight in the scene: Jane does something, Kitty and Lydia do something , Mary does something pious. If they are more characters, they all, for some reason, will be described doing something. ALWAYS.
E.g., "Lydia's eyes filled; Kitty dabbed at her own. Jane reached for her mother's hand."
Like a metronome. It will be constantly the same structure. Why is that? Because AI writes following patterns and it loops, going consistently to the same patterns in long form text. It's mechanical. It happens constantly in her books, every pages. If you took a shot of vodka for everytime she does write that exact sentence structure, you might be drunk after a few pages.
Open your classics, open Pride and Prejudice again. See for yourself how human writes.
The Melodrama and the constant telling
“When Mrs Bennet finally spoke, her voice was bright in the way thin glass is bright, easily cracked.” “But distress was hovering near; they all felt it.” " Hill appeared with a curtsy, her expression carved of solemnity.”
AI prose is frequently overly dramatic and hyper-focused on micro-expressions. AI will always explicitly narrates the emotion to the reader and explicitly narrates every single action. Nothing is left to the imagination of the reader, it does not know ellipse and does not comprehend " Show, don't tell."
Again, this is a pattern of AI and a pattern of Bethany Tolson text. Someone needs to explain to me what it means " an expression carved with solemnity" or how "glass is bright" therefore it easily crack. Google tells me that " bright glass " is a type of gel creme. Then it tells me that " glass is visually striking " hence why it cracks easily ... Again, it makes little sense.
I don't believe in that many coincidences, pages after pages. This was only the first two pages, I won't bother to do the exercise for the rest. Her other works are even more obviously AI that it's impossible to deny it.
Now, to prove my point, I have asked ChatGPT to write me a short passage between the Bennet sisters and Mrs Bennet mourning the death of Mr. Bennet.
(Interesting how now it's not the air that does forget to breath but the house ... )
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The cottage was very quiet. Not the pleasant quiet of a summer afternoon, nor the companionable silence that sometimes settled over Longbourn after supper. This was a strange, hollow quiet, as though the house itself had forgotten how to breathe. Mrs. Bennet sat by the window in her black gown, her work untouched in her lap. Since Mr. Bennet's death, she had ceased speaking of nerves, officers, and advantageous marriages. She only stared out at the small garden and occasionally asked whether the roses had bloomed.
Jane read aloud in a gentle voice, though nobody listened. Mary kept her eyes fixed upon a book she had not turned a page of for nearly an hour. Kitty sewed with unusual diligence. Lydia, who had once been incapable of sitting still, sat motionless beside the hearth.
Elizabeth looked up from her mending and watched them all.
It seemed impossible that her father was gone. Impossible that no dry remark would emerge from behind a newspaper, that no amused glance would meet hers across a crowded room, that no voice would ever again say, "Lizzy, your mother will have her way in this matter, as she generally does."
The memory struck her with such force that she lowered her head.
Across the room, Jane reached for her hand.
Neither spoke.
Outside, the evening bells sounded faintly from the village church.
Inside, five sisters and their mother sat together in their grief, holding fast to one another because there was nothing else left to hold.
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I can take any chapter of her story and ask ChatGPT to write it with a few prompts and it will, without a doubt, write the same way she does, say the same thing, use the same sentence structure. Without a fail. Whoever believes Bethany R. Tolson does not use AI to write really need to open " real " books again and revise how human actually write and tell a story.
I received an ARC copy of this book from the author and am pleased to offer my voluntary review.
“The cover of a book is the beginning of a conversation between the author and the reader.”- David Pearson
Before I even opened the book I was charmed by the quaint and idyllic cover which perfectly reflected both the title and the whole atmosphere of the book. The story begins six months after Mr. Bennet's sudden and untimely death, when all Mrs. Bennet's dark predictions about starving in the hedgerows become a dreaded reality. Sycophantic, pompous, self-centered Mr. Collins with his greedy eyes and grabby hands, comes to take control of Longmont trampling on their memories of a beloved husband and father and of peaceful, happy times that are forever gone. As expected Mrs. Bennet is frantic, devastated and terrified by the bleak future ahead of herself and her daughters.The Bennet young ladies who are equally subdued and distressed instantly rally around their mother and it's in these extremely difficult times that their future roles become evident...Jane, the emotional support, Elizabeth, the go-getter and Mary, the impressive planner and organizer. Even Kitty and Lydia had to change their rambunctious, carefree attitude to a calmer, more mature one. Let's not forget Pudding, their old tibby, who becomes a character in itself, a ray of sunshine in this bleak reality, a constant source of happy smiles and sweet caresses. It's at this moment that an unexpected but ideal solution appears, a cottage near Lambton, offered by Mr. Harding, who is Mrs. Gardiner's brother. It is with new hopes and expectation that they remove themselves to the Ivy Cottage, a sweet and charming little house where they are warmly welcomed not only by the Hardings but by the whole Lambton populace. It's not an easy transition from their previously carefree, relaxed and financially secure existence to their newly reduced circumstances in which they have to count every penny in order to make ends meet. But their new existence doesn't lack in friendly, warm hearted and generous neighbours, especially the Hardings, who try to make them feel welcomed and appreciated. Jane, Elizabeth and Mary helped by Susan, their new and inexperienced maid, take complete control of the cottage and their finances while Kitty, Lydia and Cassandra, The Hardings' youngest daughter are given to the care of Miss Clark, the governess who does wonders with their deportment and education. In between tea invitations, small parties and picnics they are met, respected and appreciated by their new neighbours and things start to gradually become calmer and less fraught with painful recollections and regrets. It's at this time that Mr. Darcy, their generous and highly respected neighbour comes into their lives not as extremely handsome as in the other variations but equally 'thoughtful and grave, not conventionally handsome, yet striking'.Darcy and Elizabeth have at first some fortuitous and then some not quite accidental early morning meetings by the small spring that flows close to the cottage and what starts as interest and admiration gradually becomes much more and impossible to even put into words due to the insuperable social and economical difference that separates them now. Georgiana Darcy, becomes a close friend with all the Bennet girls, especially Mary who gradually takes the role of her musical mentor and protector. And then we have Mr. Ashton who is Mrs. Harding's nephew and his ailing mother...he is the owner of Willowbank, a smallish but prosperous and well maintained estate at the outskirts of Lampton. He is very attentive towards his mother as well as respected and well liked by everyone in their small community. His constant presence and involvement in Elizabeth's life soon starts raising assumptions and expectations of a future happy event for the two of them. The whole community is excitingly waiting for the happy announcement of their union...it's not a matter of if, but of when. Elizabeth sincerely likes him but is not certain if what she's feeling is just gratitude or affection.She feels trapped by all these well meant marital wishes and doesn't know how to free herself from all these expectations. We cannot forget the Bingleys and the Hursts...Mr Bingley, his usual energetic, sunny self but with a little more discernment and backbone is instantly smitten with Jane to the clear displeasure of his sisters. Miss Bingley, enthusiastic about being at Pemberley and ready to show Darcy that she is the perfect future mistress for his impressive estate is as unpleasant as ever. And then, a most unfortunate event at the cottage forces the Bennet ladies to seek refuge either with the Hardings or at Pemberley and it's during these difficult times that we start to see Mr. Darcy's kindness and generosity and the man of action hidden behind his quiet, discreet facade. There is also a Ramsgate moment that brought early maturity and understanding for Miss Darcy, with an unsurprisingly happier outcome which I found completely satisfying. There were so many details that I absolutely loved about this variation and I don't want to reveal them all. I found it absolutely wonderful, profoundly emotional and deeply romantic. It kept my mind and my heart totally engaged and I couldn't be more content that our beloved ladies and gentlemen got their happily-ever-after. I cannot recommend it enough!
This is my third attempt at reading this author who has a way of writing in a the dullest, most flowery way possible. One commenter said “ it’s prose trying to be poetry “ and I say it’s mediocre poetry trying to be prose.
Alas, the third was not the charm : it’s still the same flowery empty prose with more description than character development, and an obsession with describing things not moving the plot forward or adding to the character development. eg : what does it matter how Darcy’s horse react when he ties it?
It might be “period-authentic “, but it lacks any tension to make it worth my time. Elizabeth is a prop without wit or character and Darcy a fantasy of a man without charisma. Not a first by this author who fails again to deliver anything else than pretty words and repetitive ones at that. OCD has no chemistry but what the author wants the reader to believe, and that’s not by developing compelling characters but drowning the story into boredom. They meet, he falls in love. In canon, he does because she is who she is, not because she looks good. This, in my book, out of character and no matter how many syrupy words she uses, and how “ quiet “ she likes to advertise her work ( quiet meaning for ladies who like generic ) it’s not Jane Austen, not even in spirit but a bland Regency romance loosely borrowing on P&P ghosts of characters.
This was a very subdued novel, very slow moving and without much turmoil. Some of the more climactic moments felt supressed, one of the main conflicts even told in retrospective after the buildup skipped ahead in time and perspective slightly. To some extent, I did not mind so much; nearly all of the story does take place during the Bennet's mourning, so the tone is natural. But the consistent understatement of everything in the narration got a bit wearing, and I felt as though Elizabeth lacked any sort of fire: her character more resembled Jane's than her own. There was nothing sharp or witty, though a lot of dialogue and narration was crafted to feel obscure and hinting at more profundity than I felt was deserved. It was perfectly lovely, but it wasn't for me.
A very good book overall, but should have been reduced by about 100 pages. There was too much repetition - some were making a point, but most were not. I loved the descriptions, they were wonderful. I would have liked to see more page time of ODC, but the ending was lovely.
I did like the way that she kept us in suspense/anxiety over Mr. Ashton. He really did not behave well; giving so much attention to Elizabeth to make the entire town sure he would marry her. Even though Elizabeth did not appear to be enamored of him, it seemed to me for a while that she would accept him because of the family's situation. Luckily the Ramsgate trip came up to interrupt things in Lambton, and Elizabeth was wise to suspect Mr. Wickham, saving Georgiana from potential harm.