A New Life for Cathrine Bennet

A New Life for Cathrine Bennet #1

by readergirl4985

After spending 10 years living in solitude after the death of her husband and son, Mrs. Marianne Westfield nee Bennet decides to spend Christmas with her brother's family. Getting to know her nieces gives her an idea that will work to the benefit of all.

238 pages, ebook

Published October 29, 2014

Reviews

[wosedwew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best friends? Well, I guess you could call us that but I think we are more like sisters. ~ Author unknown

Cathrine Bennet has never had a friend. Oh, she fell in with her loud-mouthed younger sister and did her best to be a friend but it’s not really friendship if the giving is all on one side.

Then, her Father’s sister visits the family for the first time in ten years. Aunt Westfield has been alone and grieving since the death of her husband and her only child. She wishes to adopt one of the Bennet girls, making her the heir to the Westfield estate. Her choice: Kitty Bennet who will become known as Kate Westfield.

Kate leaves with her Aunt and schooling begins. Kate must improve her manners, learn the feminine arts and improve her mind by extensive reading.

A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails. ~ Donna Roberts

The Westfields take a holiday at Ramsgate during a critical period in the canon Pride & Prejudice and meet Georgiana Darcy. Through interference with Wickham’s plans, the ladies meet Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam.

Georgiana spends time at the Westfield’s home and is visited regularly by Colonel Fitzwilliam. More than one romance develops.

This is an unpublished story and is available here:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10788305...

Friends listen to what you say. Best friends listen to what you don't say. ~ Author unknown

[J. W. Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10788305...

This story is clean and has 32 chapters with an epilogue. Mr. Bennet has a sister Mrs. Marianne Westfield, a widow with no children. She hasn’t seen her brother and his family in 10-years and decided to come for a visit. She is not impressed with what she sees in the behavior of her nieces… excluding Jane, Lizzy and Mary [to a degree]. She has a plan and makes an offer that Mr. Bennet cannot ignore or refuse.

It is the trope where a wealthy Bennet relation bestows a dowry on the girls and takes one niece home with her to raise. Her choice, in this story, was the neglected Cathrine, much to Lydia’s chagrin.

First… isn’t Catherine spelled with an e…? I mean… really. There were way too many canon names and places misspelled which is totally unacceptable and frowned upon by the JAFF audience. It distracts like heck from the story.

OK, the author admitted that this was their first fan fiction and for a first work I will give them a resounding 3-stars. The creativity of the story was unique and I loved the interaction and changes in Kate’s life [don’t call her Kitty]. It was fairly predictable in places and there weren’t too many surprises other than the one for M/M Bennet… I really liked that part. There wasn’t a lot of angst or difficulties. It was a good story and I liked the HEA of several of the characters.

This is followed by Mary’s story. It is 4-very short chapters and is supposed to wrap up this story line for her. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10788305... still leaves Lydia’s and Georgiana’s story which the author said would be a series of one shots.

[Carole (in Canada) · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

This is the author's first foray into writing a fan fiction story related to Pride and Prejudice. For her first attempt, I enjoyed it. It also helps that I am a Kitty Bennet fan.

Mr. Bennet has a widowed sister, Mrs. Marianne Westfield, who comes to visit. Her intent is to take under her wing one of his daughters...Kitty is her choice. She also provides dowries for each of them. Though Kitty's story takes place away from Longbourn, we still get to experience all that happens there. There are some lovely letters exchanged between the sisters and information relayed. Georgiana Darcy plays a large role along with Colonel Fitzwilliam. There are some delightful twists and turns that will leave a smile on your face.

As this is an unpublished work, I was able to over look the editing and spelling issues. I viewed it as a first draft that certainly has much potential.

[Madenna U · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this Pride and Prejudice variation, Mr Bennet's sister comes to town a few years before the cannon story. She adopts Catherine Bennet, arranges for dowries for the remaining girls, and makes a recommendation for a governess for Lydia. This certainly changes the mood at Longbourn. With her aunt, Kate (as she likes to be called rather than Kitty) meets Georgiana Darcy and they become fast friends. The friendship results in a much different result in the Wickham matter. It also provides the author the ability to tell much of the traditional story from multiple perspectives and the characters have a much better understanding of each other. For example, if Elizabeth knew that Darcy was shy up front or Darcy knew all about Mrs Bennet and her nerves.

The story moved along quite well but I did not like the end. Overall, I found the concept to be quite interesting and I enjoyed it.