In Mr Darcy’s Confidence: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

by Beatrice Langford

407 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 20, 2026

Reviews

[lori huff]

Nice, but.....

Before the Bingleys and Darcy abandon Netherfield, Darcy decides to reveal his history with Wickham to Elizabeth, who he can detect is attracted to the scoundrel and believes his pack of lies. Elizabeth, who has no very good opinion of Darcy, is shocked, and also impressed that Darcy would take this step for her. She knows that she must revise her judgement about him, and gradually comes to admire him greatly. They meet again in Kent, and Darcy finally admits to himself that he wants to marry Elizabeth, but Lady Catherine interferes in a very underhanded way.

This author writes well enough, and the storyline is interesting. However, I skimmed a large portion of the book because of the amount of repetition and filler content. She says a lot about not very much. Every dialogue is prefaced by endless nothings leading to the salient points. The thoughtful musings of the characters are repetitive in the extreme. The romance was lovely until Lady Catherine did her dirty work, and then the behavior of Darcy became a disappointment, and I almost wanted him to fail. The book is written well, and is well edited. I recommend it, but with reservations.

[Debbie]

Nicely developed story where Mr Darcy describes to Elizabeth his history regarding Wickham - in detail - during the time between the Netherfield ball and the departure of the residents of Netherfield. When Mr. Bennet refuses to take Elizabeth's warnings seriously, she enlists the aid of Jane and Mary to investigate whether Mr. Wickham may have reformed since the events Mr. Darcy related. (Not much of a spoiler: No, he hasn't!)

My favorite departure from canon in this variation, however, is Miss Darcy accompanying her brother and Colonel Fitzwilliam to Rosings Park. She gets to witness how deftly Elizabeth handles the fearsome Lady Catherine.

Mr. Wickham and Lady Catherine, respectively, get VERY satisfyingly put in their place in the final chapters, and Mary gets a sweet Happily Ever After of her own.

There are occasional misspellings but not enough to deduct stars. Otherwise, I found the writing engaging and the story pleasantly unpredictable.

Content is clean.

I feel I feel I should add that there's a wonderful little short story (27-page .PDF file) called "An Artist and a Gentleman" I received for signing onto her email list. Definitely worth the read!

[Debby Sangiovanni]

2.5* rounded up

I can only agree with the other reviewers who found the book enjoyable until Elizabeth is summarily banished from the Collins' by LCdB 2 weeks earlier than planned. The behaviour shown by Darcy is just annoying. I've seen this scenario played out in a lot of other books as well. Someone who is well known for manipulation and falsehood lies to their target{s} to cause an angry separation for whatever nefarious reason. Suddenly, this horrible person is 100% believable, totally unimpeachable and anything spewing out of their mouth is gospel. Thus begins the loss of brain cells Then our good guy/girl move to avoidance, sulking, lack of communication, etc. {Think high school. Better yet, 7th grade.} It takes me out of what had been a lovely story with characters I thought I had become familiar with and drops me by a now stranger. Someone who has stopped being highly intelligent and articulate. Someone who is acting so ridiculous, I'd like to smack them in the skull. Hard. Really hard.

[Levi]

I don't like Wickham, i never did, not even in the original work of Austen. I never understood Darcy's lack of action against him after Ramsgate.
I'm not gonna waste my time in endless internal repetitive monologs when Wickham is the main focus...

Lately this variations are not varied enough ...

[Lori Holdread]

jumped the shark in the last quarter of the book

This started and continued so well, until the point where Elizabeth os banished from Rosings Park, and Darcy believes Elizabeth has accepted a bribe from Lady Catherine to go.
Really?? And waits two weeks in misery without going to her to question what happened? Nope. Npt plausible. Very disappointing.

[Julie Goodman]

Love this Author. Great book, especially enjoyed Mary's part in the story.

[Patricia M.Klosky]

interesting storyline but TOO wordy

Very interesting but what could have been said in ten words 25 to 30 were used. And some very vague explanations about Wickham and his loss of influence. Quite annoying in fact.

[Jessica]

3.5 Cute, but Darcy doubts her when he should know better. And he doesn't think to verify or ask her about it. And she had faith he would come, but he doesn't, and so she's hurt and confused (I get it, he is too) and I'm still mad at him and at her for getting over it so quickly. Lol

[Li Xin]

2'5

I am utterly tired of contrived, meaningless third-act breakups. If there had so little basic trust between you two, don't marry him, girl. It makes no sense to put Elizabeth through suffering and then have her forgive him so quickly—her reaction lacks the emotional weight it should have.

What does this plot accomplish, other than undermining all the goodwill toward Darcy built up in the earlier story, making him look weak and irrational, and causing her pain? If there's no more story to tell, just end it; if really want to add a bit of angst at the end, come up with something more logical that doesn't betray the characters.

[Lisa E]

It is Ok

I am thinking the story could have been more sappy. What if Darcy did not believe his aunt or questioned Mr Collins more thoroughly? Then there would be no drama? Or maybe that would be too melodramatic? But I was liking ODC's understanding, right up to the angst. There is no explanation of Bingley growing a backbone, however. Needs a little editing to fix a few mistakes.

[Liz Stalker]

Very Enjoyable

As always, Beatrice Langford delivers a great story! The characters drawn are interesting - I always love to see a more dimensional Mary, and enjoyed that she had more of a relationship with Jane and Elizabeth, and enjoyed her courtship.

Lady Catherine was truly despicable and it was nice to see Wickham get his comeuppance.

Well worth the time to read. 😊

[DaLy]

Ok, but Something was Missing

The story was told more than shown. It felt like an outsider catching glimpses of the story. Darcy was too gullible and Elizabeth too passive. Sections were repeated, and emotion was lacking. This story had potential but the execution of it fell shy of the mark. The final conflict and resolution seemed contrived, especially Wickham's actions.

[S J]

Overall, a good read but…

I enjoyed the majority of this book and would be happy to read more from the author. However, I took this down from 4 stars to 3 because I found it SO hard to believe that
**carefully worded spoiler below**

Darcy would believe his aunt’s lies and delay.

It ruined the last quarter of the book for me.

[Beryl]

Another Good P & P Variation

Why am I so addicted to these Pride & Prejudice variations? I can’t seem to get my fill of them. This one was enjoyable and I read it very quickly. Wickham plays a big part in it and he is such a delight to dislike. So much fun…..

[Linda K Goodwin]

In Mr. Darcy's Confidence

Enjoyed this side of Darcy. He displayed humility and compassion.
Lady Catherine and Wickham both showed antagonism but get put in their place. And we have an earlier love match as well our hea.

[Megan Kent]

3.75⭐

Highly enjoyable, yet predictable. Being predictable doesn't take away from the simple and sweet story. Some of the changes were a bit odd for my tastes.

[Sophie]

Good characters and fast paced.