Review: Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride by Helen Halstead
Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride takes place in the autumn of 1813 just after Elizabeth and Darcy get engaged and slightly before the wedding. Placing the beginning at this point helps to bridge the reader from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to Halstead’s continuation of the story of literature’s best known and loved lovers.
It is not uncommon for a reader who has enjoyed a well told tale with fascinating characters to wonder as they finish the final page, “What happens next?” Perhaps, that is also the reason that series books do so well–because readers want to revisit and catch up with characters that they enjoy. The problem is that every reader has their own set of ideas about how the characters go on with their lives once the story ends. So a writer who opts to continue the tale of two characters that are so widely read about must keep the characters not only true to the ideals, morals, wit, and character that they were imbued by Jane Austen as well as tell a new story that is in concert with the original.
Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books and I’ve read it many times. I also often re-view the DVDs of the various movies made from the book. However, when I read a continuation of the story, I try to remember that I’m reading the authors interpretation of these characters. Still, when reading the story, I need to be able to identify those characteristics and traits that made the original characters so wonderful to read about. In this, Halstead admirably succeeds. She manages to continue the tale in a way that is consistent with the original story as it progressed while moving forward with her vision of what would happen in their lives.
We know from Pride and Prejudice that Lady Catherine de Bourgh was not happy with the match and that she’d do all in her power to see that Darcy’s wife was cut from society and the family. We also know that in a time when there was little for women except marriage, that the other Bennet sisters must find husbands, that Georgiana Darcy should probably have a coming out and season in London, that there would be children born to the couples, and that eventually the Bingleys would not be able to tolerate being so near to Mrs. Bennet. We also know that Austen left notes that indicated that Kitty would marry a clergyman–almost unbelievable in the face of Kitty’s dislike of the breed. So, Halstead had these threads upon which to embroider her tale of the married life of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy.
While everything comes together in a delightful tale of married life and its ups and down as well as the tribulations and joys of family–it’s not quite the tale that I would have told. But setting aside my own prejudices regarding the Darcys, Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride is a wonderful addition to those brave authors who lay before us their version of happily ever after for this famous literary pair. Whether Halstead manages to also touch your vision of their future, her rendition is well executed, the story springs from those themes that were generated in Pride and Prejudice, and the characters stay true to their roots. Elizabeth remains witty, charming, feisty and yet maintaining a wonderful awareness of society and her place in it. Darcy is proud but tempered with the love of Elizabeth and now making an effort to put others at ease but, when rattled, reverting to his old manners. All the other characters are as they always were but with new insights or manners that give the reader the same character but with more depth and emotion.
A must for all lovers of the original who wonder, “What happens next?”