This story starts at the point where Darcy and Bingley are on their way back to Hertfordshire from London. Darcy has already been turned down by Elizabeth and he’s determined to make amends. As the book description says, Elizabeth is on a boat, the boat blows up and she is presumed dead. So when Darcy gets to Longbourn he see that they’re a house in mourning and is devastated after hearing that Lizzy is dead. He feels he needs to avenge her death and enlists Colonel Fitzwilliam to assist. Since the boat had been near France at the time it is assumed that it was not an accident but, instead, that the boat was blown up by the French (due to France and England being at war). So Darcy sets off with fake papers and an fake persona, that of a peasant, in order to find the infamous Frenchman the British war office believes to have done the deed, and bring him to justice. Thus avenging the murder of the woman he loves. It is noted that Darcy speaks perfect French as the result of having a French nanny whom he has stayed in touch with and who is currently living in France. Darcy is given the names and locations of some British spies living throughout France. The first one he's supposed to contact is named Dreyfuss. But Dreyfuss isn’t home so he decides to wander the streets and return later. He encounters a thief, there’s a minor brawl and his hand gets a nasty slice that needs to be stitched up. The inhabitants of this town are very friendly and make it clear that they’re no fans of Napoleon’s. One of them takes him to the local doctor’s house and he is stitched up. The doctor and his wife are very nice people who can see right away that he’s no peasant and that he’s probably not a Frenchman but British. They ask for his help because there is a women in one of their bedrooms who was found ashore, unconscious and sick. She has been in and out consciousness and they’ve been able to only communicate with her the basics because they speak little English and she speaks very little French. So up they go with Darcy as the translator, only to find that the woman in the room is his Elizabeth. What are the odds?!! He pulls her into an embrace, he’s floored, he’s crying and then notices that the Dr and his wife are staring. So he does the only logical thing, he says that they’re married. Hmm. An odd choice. He could have said they were brother and sister, or that they were engaged or just tell the truth. But he chooses to say they’re married.
Elizabeth wakes up and doesn’t know who she is or who Darcy is. And here starts the crux of the story. He has to get her out of France but she doesn’t remember anything. To make things worse, Darcy, with Elizabeth en tow, eventually goes back to Dreyfuss’ home to get help getting out the country, only to find out that he’s a double spy! Tum, tum, tuuuum! Dreyfuss is actually the infamous French spy who blew up the boat and who Darcy was supposed to be looking for. But Elizabeth recognizes him as the man who took her hostage from the ship she was on, onto a little boat, and rowed them away from the sail boat which then blew up. He then hit her over the head with his gun and threw her over board. They get away from him and after that they’re on the run. The doctor and his wife give them their wagon and supplies and Darcy heads to his former nanny’s house. He gets more help from her and they’re headed to a seaside encampment where smugglers do their business, taking French products to and from England. During this whole affair Darcy and Elizabeth are sleeping in the same bed. Why? Because Darcy started with this lie and now he can’t tell Elizabeth the truth because she still has huge gaps in her memory. If he tells her she’s likely to bolt, not knowing if she can trust him. But eventually she’s going to remember that she doesn’t like him and that she turned down his offer of marriage and then she’ll hate him for lying to her. Throughout the book Darcy is in agony (which gets tiresome very early in the book) having deceived her and having to continue with the ruse.
They get to the smuggler’s encampment, Darcy starts looking for someone who will take them back to England and then Darcy sees Colonel Fitzwilliam. Apparently, not having heard back from Darcy or any of the British spies he was supposed to contact, Fitz got worried and headed for France. When Elizabeth sees Fitz all her memories come flooding back. She remembers everything and is enraged with Darcy. They end up finding someone who will allow them passage on his ship and just as they’re heading toward the ship Dreyfuss and two Gendarme see them and start running at them. A melé ensues, Darcy pushes Elizabeth at Fitzwilliam and tells him to get her to the boat, Darcy and Dreyfuss fight and just as all seems lost, Elizabeth takes a pistol and fires it. It hits Dreyfuss in the shoulder, Darcy drags him to the boat and throws him in it and they all get to the smuggler’s ship.
Once back in England Fitz and Darcy travel with Elizabeth and she decides to travel the last leg of the trip that will take her to Longbourn on her own. Darcy is dejected but allows her to go. She gets home, everyone is in shock and then overjoyed. Bingley, who is still at Netherfield eventually gets engaged to Jane. Elizabeth eventually realizes that she loves Darcy. And decides to travel, by herself, all the way to Pemberly. A very odd choice and one that was not very believable. But so be it. She arrives, he’s happy, Georgiana is happy and they get married.
I liked this book, it was decent. Unfortunately there were many times where the actions or decisions of the characters simply weren't believable. When a character does something that is so uncharacteristic to the timeline of the story, then it pulls me out of that timeline and I'm no longer immersed in the book. It's very annoying and it happens throughout the book. Too many times when I was thinking, What? Huh? That doesn't make sense. But, overall, it was a decent read.