An Interesting Conversation with Mr. Bennet

by Maria Grace

Just how did Mr. Darcy ask of Elizabeth’s hand from Mr. Bennet?

Unknown Binding

Published October 6, 2016

About the author

Six time BRAG Medallion Honoree, #1 Best-selling Historical Fantasy author Maria Grace has her PhD in Educational Psychology and is a 16-year veteran of the university classroom where she taught courses in human growth and development, learning, test development and counseling. None of which have anything to do with her undergraduate studies in economics/sociology/managerial studies/behavior sciences. She pretends to be a mild-mannered writer/cat-lady, but most of her vacations require helmets and waivers or historical costumes, usually not at the same time.

She stumbled into Jane Austen fan-dom in the mid '90s with Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility film, having somehow graduated HS without ever having read Austen. It was only a short leap then to consume all of Austen's works, in all their various media forms. In the hopes of discovering more works by Austen, she stumbled into the fan fiction forums, which naturally led to asking 'What if...' herself. Twenty nine books later, she still asks that question.

She writes gaslamp fantasy, historical romance and non-fiction to help justify her research addiction.

Reviews

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really short story barely a scene between a cranky Darcy and clueless Mr. Bennet when Darcy comes to ask for Lizzy's hand.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://randombitsoffascination.com/20...

This is more of a book scene (I believe it appears in the anthology Pride & Prejudice: Behind the Scenes) than a short story. There are a couple of typos, but the writing otherwise is Ms. Grace's usual superior quality.

The premise is simple: Mr. Darcy, having already proposed to Elizabeth the second time and received her acceptance, is approaching Mr. Bennet to formally request the hand of his favorite daughter in marriage. If you're familiar with Pride and Prejudice, you can imagine the content without ever reading this. If you can't, this is the way Ms. Grace imagines it went. But I suggest you read it anyway to see if her imagination and yours match up!

[Sheila Majczan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read this on October 22, 2016 but re-read it as it is now posted in the GRs library. This is an interesting look at just how Mr. Bennet might have needled Darcy when he came to ask for his consent and his blessing. Sweet.