Austen or Aston

I was inspired by reading all my Jane Austen books to read an author who writes sequels to the Austen books - specifically, sequels loosely based on the characters in Pride and Prejudice. This author is Elizabeth Aston. She is smart, however. Instead of writing books based on the characters from Pride and Prejudice, she moves down one generation, and began writing about Elizabeth and Darcy's daughters. I think this is wise. Elizabeth and Darcy have already had such a perfect story that I don't think any other author could do them justice.

I began reading Aston's books with her story Mr. Darcy's Daughters, about the 5 daughters of Elizabeth and Darcy and the mischief they get up to while searching for husbands. The next book in the series is The Exploits & Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy, about the youngest of the 5 Darcy daughters. After finishing the tales of Darcy's daughters, Aston turns to other members of the family. She writes about Cassandra Darcy, daughter of Anne de Bourgh, in The True Darcy Spirit. The next book features no Darcys at all, but Collinses: Aston features Charlotte and Eliza Collins, the daughters of Mr. Collins and the former Charlotte Lucas, in The Darcy Connection. Aston rounds off her series with The Second Mrs Darcy, a book about Octavia Darcy, widow of a cousin of the Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice.

I have read all these Aston novels and enjoyed them. In the realm of Austen sequelists, her works are pretty good - and that's saying a lot as there are some pretty bad ones out there. I had thought the series ended with The Second Mrs Darcy, but realized recently that a new Darcy-related book had come out - Mr. Darcy's Dream. I ordered it from the library and read it.

Mr. Darcy's Dream is about Phoebe Hawkins, the daughter of Georgiana Darcy and a Sir Giles Hawkins. Phoebe is disappointed in love, as her father refused his consent to an engagement with the young man that Phoebe loves. Phoebe later finds out that the young man is apparently still consorting with the actress she thought he had given up, and her heart is shattered. She refuses to participate in the London season. Wanting to cheer up their daughter, Georgiana and Giles send Phoebe to Pemberley with the summer along with her cousin, Louisa Bingley. Stunningly beautiful as well as kind and warm-hearted, Louisa Bingley has undergone 3 London seasons without an offer. She is tired of the social life and would welcome a quiet summer at Pemberley with her cousin. Of course, the girls do not get the quiet time they are looking for as they get sucked into the local dramas of the residents around Pemberley and as both Phoebe and Louisa must contend with affairs of the heart.

Mr. Darcy's Dream is good, light-hearted fun. By choosing characters that aren't exactly in the Austen novels, Aston is free to do with her characters what she wishes, while still staying true to Austen's original ideas and feelings. Aston does pretty well too - the writing's appropriate for the period but still modern. Mr. Darcy's Dream is perhaps a little more light-weight than some of the other contenders in Aston's Darcy universe, but it is a nice light read. (My favourites are the two about Darcy's daughters - good fun!) I do enjoy how all the novels are set within the Darcy extended clan of cousins and in-laws, so the reader gets updates on what happened to favourite characters from other books.

If you want one opinion on what happened to Elizabeth and Darcy after Pride and Prejudice, try an Elizabeth Aston book. They are generally good reads. Of course, nothing can be as sparkling or witty as the original, but Aston writes well and the books are enjoyable and are moderately true to the time, unlike some other Austen sequelists I have read. I am looking forward to the next book about the extended Darcy clan.