MYSTERIOUS MR. DARCY: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

 

As a long-time fan of Monica Fairview’s writing, I am thrilled to read another one of her creative, perceptive, and skillfully executed works! Mysterious Mr. Darcy is an entertaining tale and I applaud Ms. Fairview’s inventive yet plausible twists! I highly recommend! Austenesque Reviews


The events of this Pride and Prejudice 'what-if' occur three years later than the original, but before the Netherfield Ball. Mr. Darcy receives a visit at his isolated manor in Cornwall. It is Charles Bingley, and he is there to ask for a favor... He needs help with his new estate, Netherfield.

As for Miss Elizabeth Bennet, there is nothing she likes more than a laugh – except for a mystery. From the moment she first encounters Mr. Darcy, she senses he is hiding something. But the more she tries to find out about who he is, the more evasive he becomes. However, Elizabeth soon turns her attention to someone else. As Mrs. Bennet points out, Mr. Darcy is a nobody, and Elizabeth needs to marry someone who can provide for her and her sisters.

Meanwhile, Mr. Darcy doesn’t want anyone to know about the scandal that haunts him from the past. He certainly doesn’t need someone like Miss Bennet, who asks him questions and tries to slip him up. Fortunately, he is more than equal to the task of putting her off. What he doesn’t expect is that before he knows it, he finds himself longing to tell her the truth.
Are Elizabeth and Darcy meant to come together in this variation, or is Elizabeth destined for somebody else?

Note: Mysterious Mr. Darcy is not a mystery. It is a Jane Austen ‘what-if’ in which Mr. Darcy has to deal with the consequences of his past, a past that will change the shape of his future.




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