Georgiana Darcy's Diary by Anna Elliott and Laura Masselos

I didn't know it, but it looks like we have Anna Elliott to thank for bringing the Darcys and the Bennetts back to the stacks. I'm so out of it because I had no idea about this series of books and the first volume was published in 2014. Elliott has three volumes of P&P Lovers' books out there that take us back to 1814 Pemberley...exactly where we want to be. 

Big sister-in-law and new BFF Elizabeth is there. Our darling and lovable older brother Fitzwilliam is there and he is happy! Our beloved cousin and guardian Colonel Edward Fitzwilliam is there. We're beginning to appreciate Carolyn Bingley a bit, enough to wish a happy ending for her. Even our cousin Miss Anne DeBourgh is growing on us. It's good. It's right where we want to be.


Though I'm still reading the novel I know one thing: Anne Elliott loves Pride and Prejudice as much as I do. She knows the characters as well as I do. She's imagined Pemberley as often as I have. And Anne Elliott has taken these beloved characters and has grown them, not as Jane Austin might have done, but as a very good fan fiction writer might do. And we can enjoy that for what it is. Who wouldn't appreciate the moment when Elizabeth Darcy offers to take Lady Catherine DuBourgh to another part of the house to talk about putting shelves into an errant closet?

I don't know if non-Austin-Lovers would appreciate the many beloved features of the book, the repurposed phraseology, the familiar set ups, or even the continuation of sweet dialogue. Maybe the book would be a bit below-standard. Probably some readers might be unimpressed with the journal entries of Georgianna Anna Darcy but I enjoyed getting to know her better. I can honestly not judge in the way of a non-Austinite because I have swallowed P&P whole and I have savored it for many years. 

If you are an Austin Lover, you will likely enjoy this book for its easy read, it's feeling of being home. You will enjoy the surprise of Carolyn Bingley's story line, maybe even enough to forgive her rudeness and condescension to Elizabeth Bennett in the original. If you loved Austin you will probably forgive the few out-of-time anachronisms. And if you love Austin you will probably agree with my rating of seven stars, taking away three stars simply because that's about as high as fan fic can rate.