''It is a truth universally acknowledged that a married man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a son and heir....'
So begins Emma Tennant's bestselling sequel to Jane Austen's own favourite novel, 'Pride and Prejudice'.
Pemberley is Mr Darcy's splendid house, and it is there that amidst their relatives one Christmas, his pride and his wife Elizabeth's prejudice find themselves once again provoked.
Told with stylish irony combined with insights into the emotions and mores of eighteenth century English High Society, 'Pemberley' is an elegant and diverting social comedy, a novel of genuine originality.'

Found for 99p in 'Help The Aged' charity shop in St Ives on Saturday 5th June 2010.

A bit of a disappointment to be honest. Although the author was trying to capture the writing style of JA, I felt it was a bit dry and trying to hard to do so, so that my reading, instead of a pleasure was a bit of a determined 'I *am* going to finish this one.'
Mr Bennett is sadly dead, all is not well at Pemberly with the Darcy's as Mr D is going off in a huff reminiscent of his and Elizabeth's first encounters and she's become a shrinking violet convinced they will never have a child. The Bingley's are on their 3rd or 4th child already (surely the Regency aristocracy had other hobbies?!), and Mrs Bennett, living in Longbourne village with Kitty and Mary has an offer of marriage from a distant cousin from Lyme Regis.
When Pemberley fills for Christmas with Mrs Bennett, Kitty, Mary, the Bingleys en-masse, the Wickhams and children, Lady Catherine de Bourgh and sickly Anne plus the unexpected arrival of Mrs B's would-be suitor, it all sort of implodes for Elizabeth, even with her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner for moral support, as Darcy has disappeared off again without a word to his wife, though everyone else seems to have been informed.
Honestly I can't say I liked this continuation of P&P much. Histrionics, fainting fits, spurious hints at entailments that come to nothing, dead end charactisations and Elizabeth Bennett-Darcy reduced to a jibbering wreck of a woman did nothing to endear me to it.
Hoping the next reader will enjoy it more than I did...
AVL.

Donated to either Oxfam or British Heart Foundation charity shops in Huntingdon on Saturday 14th January 2012.
I'm moving flats and need the space!!
If you find this book - enjoy - and welcome to the random wonderfulness that is Bookcrossing :)