Review: Postscript from Pemberley by Rebecca Ann Collins
Postscript from Pemberly is book seven of the Pemberley Chronicles. Unfortunately, I haven’t read any of the previous six books. Well, that’s not entirely true. I did read the “look inside” of the first book a while back and put it on my wish list on Amazon; but with the height of my TBR pile…. But, when I got the chance to read Postscript from Pemberley, I wasn’t going to be stopped by the lack of prior book knowledge (and you shouldn’t either). The book, you see, has an appendix that lists the major characters and their family relationships. As you can probably imagine by the seventh book, we’re into cousin and grandchildren territory.
The main point of view character is Jessica Courtney. Jessica is the daughter of Rev. James Courtney and Emily Gardiner Courtney (the daughter of the Gardiners — Elizabeth’s and Jane’s Aunt and Uncle Gardiner). Jessica’s parents run the church and parish at Kympton. When the book opens we learn that Julian Darcy, the oldest son of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy, is having problems. His wife, Josie, has left him and their son to run off with a man who has promised to publish her book. We later learn that the book never got published, Josie got left on her own, and is very ill. Josie doesn’t recover and dies. Julian returns home to leave his son with his sister and her husband before going to France to continue his research.
All this is in the first few pages but it sets up the relationship that develops between Jessica and Julian as they become friends. Whether this relationship will develop into anything more is anyone’s guess as Julian is much older (Jessica is eighteen). Besides, Julian is headed to Paris for more study and Jessica is offered the chance to run the expanded and upgraded school on the grounds of Pemberley.
Mr. Darcy, ever concerned for the people that look to him for their livelihood, has decided that the current school at the church and at Pemberley is not educating the children for anything other than menial jobs and he wants to do better. Jessica is hired (and moves into Pemberley) to run the school and hire two additional teachers to develop a course of study that will better prepare the area’s children.
Thus we have at least two plot lines going. Actually there are several other plot threads in this volume. Will Jessica and Julian fall in love? Will they remain friends? Will the school work out? Will Jessica find qualified teachers? Will bringing two people in who have not been part of the previous books cause problems? What other family squabbles and events will occur to stir up the family.
What’s a novel without some conflict? Not very interesting, actually. Luckily for us, Rebecca Ann Collins knows that we need to have some conflict and some ambiguity in our reading and she provides it. Told mostly from Jessica’s point of view, we learn about the ups and downs of the now fairly large cast of characters. Jessica being the kindhearted person she is tends to be the one that her cousins turn to when they need advice or just to talk candidly without rumors spreading. Jessica listens, seldom judges, and knows how to keep secrets — especially her own. One interesting choice is that some of Jessica’s interior thoughts are told from snippets from her journal and from letters written to her and from her to others.
When a young lady with impeccable teaching credentials returns to live with her parents, Jessica finds not only an exceptional teacher for the school but a friend. However, Jessica is not the only person with secrets. Remember too that while we’ve reached 1866 — the times are not our own and in many ways the rules of behavior in that period of time make it difficult to understand the utter devastation that can be done to someone’s reputation for behavior that in our time wouldn’t even lift an eyebrow. Women were kept to a strict standard that most of us would rebel against with all our might today.
Postscript from Pemberley is fine addition to the growing list of Pride and Prejudice sequels. A marvelous book to curl up with on a rainy day with a hot cup of tea, to sink into a time and place so different from our own and visit people who seem so familiar. There’s no explosions or car chases, but there is tension and conflict and people we care about and hope will turn out happy at the end. It’s a book that when you finish you give a sigh of satisfaction and perhaps turn back to page one and start over.