Two Short Reviews - Born of Persuasion and 1932

1832 is not a good year for women. They are considered property of their husbands, fathers and brothers.  Julia is orphaned and finds herself in the hands of an unknown guardian whose plans are to send her to far off Scotland and more ominously it seems plans an unexpected accident and an inconvenience could be quietly forgotton.

Julia has a childhood sweetheart in Edward and she has two months to try to find him as he is missing and then to get married to avoid the empty future spreading ahead of her. Finding Edward she also finds him bitter and a vicar which is totally unexpected and completely at odds with the person she knew before. She also finds out that several people whom she trusted knew about the circumstances and manner of Edward's turn of mind but never bothered to tell her. 

Offered a way out by a shrewd dowager of finding a partner Julia finds herself as a pawn and cats paw in a game between several characters. Her father who upto now has been unknown who also turns out to be her guardian, Lord Macy a suitor for her hand, Edward her former love .  Julia is uncertain of her own heart now as she is strongly attracted to Macy and now must decide whom she would love and most importantly trust.

Lots of detail and description this was a good book.

I like spin offs from P& P - this is a really unusual one. Set in 1932, we have Mr. Bennet as an English literature professor who has just lost his job. With that he is in financial difficulty having lost the means to pay the mortgage. The only option is to go back to farming - land which his brother owns. He takes his brood (fortunately Mrs. Bennet is not given to much drama in this one) and the children and goes back.

We find our Mr. Darcy here again a land owner of vast acres, Mr. Bingley an owner of a store (I couldn't get over the "trading" part), the Misses Bingley are portrayed as his spinster aunts but still trying to rule him totally and Elizabeth, Jane and all the girls now working in whatever ways possible to eke an income.

For the first time I've read of the love of Darcy for Elizabeth but for Elizabeth the acceptance of Darcy is as a marriage of convenience. She certainly likes him, she admires him but she is not in love with him - at the beginning anyway and this difference added a certain piquancy to the story. Every story of P & P has the immediate attraction between Elizabeth and Darcy. A gradual onset of love on the part of Elizabeth has never been seen before!!!!

This was a good variation and I certainly enjoyed it.

Our long ten days holiday comes to an end with Easter. Happy Easter to all.