As many "versions" of Pride and Prejudice as there are, there are, I think, at least as many continuations of the story. Some are a single volume, others are series. As it so happens, I have three of each to discuss. The single volume continuations are: Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride by Helen Halstead, Mr. Darcy's Decision by Juliette Shapiro, and Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange. The series continuations are: The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Ann Collins, The Darcy Saga by Sharon Lathan, and Pride and Prejudice Continues (?) by Linda Berdoll.
Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride begins the day after Elizabeth and Darcy have officially become engaged. It takes us through their honeymoon, return to Pemberley, Elizabeth's and Georgiana's presentations at St. James, and then continues with the . Elizabeth becomes a favorite of one of the more prominent ladies of society. One of the other friends, a playwright, of this lady has an obsession, more or less, with Elizabeth and tries to write a play based on her. This makes both Elizabeth and Darcy angry and puts a kink in their marriage. But, of course, they get over it and things go back to their happily ever after.
This book certainly has some interesting moments and has a good plot. However, I would have liked to see more of the behind-the-scenes relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth, more passion.
In Mr. Darcy's Decision, Mr. Wickham leaves a pregnant Lydia. In the midst of this new scandal at the hands of Wickham, Darcy and Elizabeth also learn they are to have a child. In order to hide the fact that Lydia was left while with child, Mrs. Bennett comes up with the idea that the baby be born and raised at Pemberley - by Darcy and Elizabeth. Both sides agree to this, and Lydia is brought to Pemberley to have her baby. However, eventually Darcy has misgivings about this and decides to contact Wickham to let him know about the baby. It is with this news that Wickham reforms. So, Darcy and Elizabeth keep their child, and Wickham and Lydia keep theirs.
As nice as it would be for Wickham to reform, and as much as it gives a happy ending, I just can't fathom it possible. Maybe that's just my personal hatred of Wickham, my opinion that he deserves much worse...
My favorite of the single-volume sequels is Mr. Darcy, Vampyre. The unique storyline made it fun to read. It starts out the morning of the wedding. It isn't until that day that Elizabeth begins to notice the occasional tortured expression on his face when he thinks she's not looking. Elizabeth is confused, thinking that Darcy is rethinking marrying her. They are taking a very long wedding tour across Europe to members of Darcy's family. Eventually, she figures out that Darcy is a vampyre and gets the whole story. Darcy is now very motivated to find a way to rid himself of the vampyre curse.
The Pemberley Chronicles is, at this point, a 10-book series. It is written very much in the style of Jane Austen. Admittedly, I only own the first 7 of these books, and have only read the first 5. However, despite that, I do like the series. And, before reading the other two series mentioned above, I loved it. Because it is written in true Jane Austen style, there is no description of the deep passion between Darcy and Elizabeth. Also, the timeline in these books is vague and hard to follow. For example, in the first book, one minute, they're coming home to Pemberley as newlyweds, the next Elizabeth's pregnant, then the baby's born, then the child is five years old. It's very disorienting.
Berdoll, in the preface of Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife, discusses the fact that because Jane Austen was a maiden her whole life and only wrote what she knew, none of her stories go further than the wedding - we never see what goes on behind closed doors. Both the Darcy Saga and Pride and Prejudice Continues delve much deeper into the immense passion that exists between Darcy and Elizabeth. In other words, the sexual component of their relationship is much more evident, and can sometimes be quite specific (all you have to do is read the first chapter of Berdoll's Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife to understand what I mean). This means that if you are a Jane Austen purist, you most likely won't enjoy either of these series.
One of the main differences between the two series is Mr. Darcy's pre-marriage sex life. In Berdoll's books, Darcy has been with other women, but always discreetly and never with a virgin (he refused to "deflower" a woman, unlike Mr.Wickham, who had no such qualms) - it was only ever to relieve those manly urges. This means that sometimes Darcy makes an occasional slip of the tongue that hints to Elizabeth that he has experience. Although I wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of Darcy being experienced, it certainly adds an interesting element to the plot (probably one reason why Berdoll chose this route). In Lathan's books, however, Mr. Darcy is educated, but inexperienced (apparently his father had some rather explicit books on sexual positions...). This, also, makes for some interesting bedroom "scenes".
The time line for Darcy Saga is much slower than that of the others; the first book comprises only the first 5 months of their marriage, the second the next 4 months, and the third the next 4-5 months (the fourth book comes out Oct. 1). Pride and Prejudice Continues moves much slower, with the first book covering the first 5 years, and the second the next year (the third book will eventually appear). I have to say that I prefer Berdoll's books to Lathan's because Berdoll's books move faster and, therefore, don't focus as narrowly on Darcy and Elizabeth as Lathan's do. However, despite this, I find both series quite good. I am very much looking forward to the release of their next books. (In the Arms of Mr. Darcy, the fourth book of the Darcy Saga, will be released on Oct. 5. The Ruling Passion, the third book of the Pride and Prejudice Continues series as of yet does not have a release date.)
Interestingly, Berdoll's interest in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice began with the BBC/A&E mini-series, whereas Lathan's began with the 2005 film (both discussed in an earlier blog, if you're interested).
Please share your comments on any of the books mentioned above and feel free to recommend others!
