Author: P. D. James
Released: December 2011
The year is 1803, and Darcy and Elizabeth have been married for six years. There are now two handsome and healthy sons in the nursery, Elizabeth's beloved sister Jane and her husband Bingley live nearby and the orderly world of Pemberley seems unassailable. But all this is threatened when, on the eve of the annual autumn ball, as the guests are preparing to retire for the night a chaise appears, rocking down the path from Pemberley's wild woodland. As it pulls up, Lydia Wickham - Elizabeth's younger, unreliable sister - stumbles out screaming that her husband has been murdered.
Rating: 3 Stars
Positives: Its been a while since I've seen Pride and Prejudice and I always wondered how a sequel would be carried off. To combine the idea of a sequel with a murder mystery is an excellent idea in itself. Of course that would mean either killing off Elizabeth, Darcy or involving the theatrics of Elizabeth's younger sister Lydia who was always able to create a drama out of anything. P. D. James chose to make the same decision that I would have made in her shoes by involving Lydia.
A second positive that I found was that P. D. James has stuck to Jane Austen's style of writing here, something which makes this much more believable as a sequel.
Finally a third positive would have to be that there were plot twists. Anyone who read the blurb would be expecting Wickham to have died, but in fact the victim was someone else entirely. And as for the identity of the murderer .... Well if somebody manages to guess it before their name is revealed then that would be pretty impressive. There's enough twists and turns to make this a decent read.
Negatives: You have to already be a fan of Jane Austen in order to understand the thought processes of both Elizabeth and Darcy, which may make this story harder to follow for some readers. Going by the blurb this would have had great standalone value as a book in its own right, but once you start reading you understand that if you haven't read or seen an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice before then you're going to be a little bit stuck.
Secondly I just really struggled to get into this book. The new supporting characters seemed very two dimensional to me and I found myself wishing the book would be over sooner rather later. I think that whilst the concept was a good one, there just wasn't enough happening to keep the reader hooked.
Would I recommend this book? Now thats a question and a half. Personally if you aren't a fan of Ride and Prejudice then don't bother reading this. If you are a fan then by all means read it, but you'd probably be best trying to borrow a copy from your local library before going out and spending money on a copy of your own.
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