MONICA FAIRVIEW

 

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I am the author of many Kindle bestselling books. My books have been selected a favorite reads on several well-know blogs. Here is one of the latest. 

COMING ON September 27th! A LONGBOURN ENTANGLEMENT



MY BOOKS 

I'VE BEEN WRITING JANE AUSTEN VARIATIONS AND CONTINUATIONS SINCE 2009, and my novels have taken me on a variety of imaginary journeys into the world of Pride and Prejudice. One of the things that appeals to me most in Jane Austen is her witty, tongue-in-cheek style and her satirical eye.

My journey first started when I wrote The Other Mr. Darcy. I decided that I wanted to explore Caroline Bingley's background in trade and give her a chance to redeem herself. What better way to do this than

to pair her up with Mr. Darcy's American unconventional cousin, who challenges her to stop pretending and encourages her find her own identity? The novel brings out the class undertones in Jane Austen's world that are often glossed over by modern readers.

Fitzwilliam Darcy's American cousins make another appearance in Miss Georgiana Darcy's romantic journey in The Darcy Cousins. It isn't easy for Georgiana to be trusting after her experience with Wickham, but with the help of her cousin Clarissa, she is able overcome her shyness and learn to love. 

Meanwhile, I continued to write my Sweet Regency romance novels. I've been a fan of Georgette Heyer since I was a teenager, and I've loved Julia Quinn's novels ever since I first discovered her work, long before I started to write. Georgette Heyer invited me into her Regency world, with her wonderful use of Regency slang and her laugh-out-loud situations. I found strong heroines the Grand Sophy particularly appealing. I've written five Regencies to to date. 

My one diversion from the Regency world has been the Jane Austen-inspired Steampunk Darcy, a humorous post-apocalyptic comedy that was very well-received critically. I like to think of it as a combination of Pride and Prejudice, Neil Gailman's Stardust [have you seen the movie?] and Pirates of the Carribean. Steampunk Darcy is a quirky novel, made of a smorgasbord of genres, with appearances from many Pride and Prejudice characters. It's set in a kind of Victorian world, with a return to steamboats and steam engines. Like most post-apocalyptic novels, it questions the impact of technology on our lives. William Darcy is a descendent of Fitzwilliam Darcy. He works in Longbourn Laboratories, and is obsessed with discovering collecting information about the original Darcy and Elizabeth's lives. He also happens to be in possession of a secret that may change the world. It was so much fun writing this novel, a journey into a different world but with familiar characters. It was my chance to be as crazy as I liked. 

For my next set of novels were variations on Pride and Prejudice, and my focus was on Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. In fact, my comic Darcy Novels Trilogy was told primarily from Darcy's viewpoint, and not from Elizabeth's. This made these novels a bit difficult to write. We know what Darcy is thinking, but we don't see Elizabeth's perspectives. One of these days I might go back and add Elizabeth's point of view, but I'm not quite sure when. 

My next re-telling/Variation was Mysterious Mr. Darcy, which despite the title, is not a mystery. Instead of coming to Meryton as Mr. Darcy, Master of Pemberley, Darcy appears at the Meryton Assembly incognito as a completely undistinguished gentleman. It was fascinating to explore how different Pride & Prejudice would be if Mr. Darcy was an ordinary gentleman. How would everyone react to him? 

Then came my governess Pride and Prejudice novel, Fortune and Felicity, which is set several years after Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth is hired to take care of Darcy's spoilt daughter Anne, who has found it difficult to deal with her mother's death. It's a kind of Persuasion story, in spirit if not in detail, with a very quite, sweet journey towards love for our dear couple. 


BEST AUSTENESQUE HISTORICAL NOVEL 2020, Austenprose






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