The Heir to Longbourn

by Laurence Fleming

The perfect sequel to Pride and Prejudice, solving the problems that book creates and drawing in a whole cast of characters from other Austen novels. The Heir to Longbourn is the first in a trilogy, at the end of which almost all the unmarried characters from the other novels have been paired up with each other. It is, of course, humorously done, but with a pitch perfect ear for Jane Austen's style and is in perfect sympathy with her outlook.

Genres: Jane Austen

215 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

intersting in that the author's premis e is that all of JA's characters are the same ages and interact together.....Elizabeth and Darcy are married, she meet Maria Bertram who marries the widowed MR Bennet and provides him with heirs much to Collins chargrin...fun read

[Chriss Corkscrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this book is like having a bucket of warm strawberry jam poured over you. Quite satisfying in a way - particularly the bringing together of so many of Jane Austen’s characters - but someone was falling in love, getting married or having a baby every ten pages or so which made the overall experience sickly sweet.

This book is a good comfort read for a Jane Austen fan but is certainly no great work of literature, being markedly plot driven with only the vaguest nod to characterisation.

[Meg Onthemove Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read, though the timeline doesn't quite feel right, and the writer seems intent on getting in as many of Austen's characters as possible whilst completely re-writing their personalities.

[Eloise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining enough and certainly well-kept in the Austen regard.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent
Very good book

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Voilà encore une sequel qui me laisse avec un avis mitigé! Pourquoi certains auteurs qui ont d'excellentes idées veulent toujours en faire trop! Quel dommage!

Si je garde l'idée générale, je pourrais dire que j'ai adoré ce roman. Nous suivons donc Lizzy, qui vient d'accoucher et, qui se rend dans une station balnéaire pour se reposer. Georgiana est du voyage et là-bas elles font la rencontre d'un certain Tom Bertram. Et cela ne sera pas la seule rencontre intéressante du roman: le colonel Tilney, Miss Crawford ou encore William Price entre autres croiseront la route de Lizzy. Je suis une grande fan du crossover entre les romans de Jane Austen et je suis souvent surprise qu'il n'en existe pas plus. Celui-ci est très bien fait, avec un choix de personnages intéressants et forcément de nouveaux couples qui se forment pour notre plus grand plaisir.

Malheureusement, il y a aussi de nombreux éléments qui sont revenus perturber mon plaisir tout au long de ce roman. Toutes les histoires de couples sont réglées en moins de cinq pages! Lorsque Georgiana rencontre son prétendant, son frère Darcy l'encourage à le revoir sans rien savoir de cet homme et taquine sa soeur sur le fait qu'elle devrait l'épouser. On hallucine là non?? Mais où est passé le grand frère protecteur? Quant à Kitty, l'auteur ne l'appelle que Catherine, ce qui est très perturbant. Pourquoi supprimer son surnom alors que nous ne la connaissons que sont cette appellation? Et je ne vous parle même pas du traitement reservé à Mrs Bennet, la pauvre! Elle paie bien cher ses excentricités cette pauvre femme! J'ai même été ébahie de la façon dont ses filles parlent d'elle. Il semblerait finalement que la douce et naïve Jane cachait bien son jeu...

En bref, l'histoire reste assez captivante. Le roman aurait pu être génial et entrer dans mon top 5 si l'auteur n'essayait pas d'en faire trop, et contrairement à d'autres, ce ne sont pas là de petites erreurs qui m'ont dérangées mais bien des abbérations qui m'ont choquées! Quel gâchis!

[Valerie Sells · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure why I never left a review on this book before, because I absolutely love it. This must be the third or fourth time I've read the trilogy and it never fails to make me smile from this very first volume. I know there have been a great many sequels written to Pride & Prejudice, I have read several myself, but this is by far my favourite. Not only is it a story that shows how happy Elizabeth & Mr Darcy are in marriage, but also expands on what becomes of the rest of the Bennet family, and even ties in to Mansfield Park in a large way, and both Northanger Abbey and Persuasion as well. As an admirer of all Austen's works, it just pleases me so much to see them all continued in this way, in a style I think she might just have approved of too. Already looking forward to diving into the second and third books again!

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure about this one! I have read a few 'sequels' of Pride and Prejudice, some better than others, my favourite is 'Death Comes to Pemberley'.

It was interesting how he brought in characters from some of Jane Austen's other novels. I liked the ending, it was very satisfying.

[Alexa Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://alexaadams.blogspot.com/2010/08/heir-to-longbourn-by-laurence-fleming.html

[Talia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dull but well-written.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was delightful.
I've read A LOT of Jane Autsen sequels, prequels and companion pieces. Some terrible, some okay and only a few that I truly enjoyed.
This book needs to go in the 'truly enjoyed' list.
The tone and vocabulary used was perfect.
It meshed together characters from all of Jane Austen's novels and I couldn't have enjoyed that idea more.
It was also so nice to read a sequel in which Darcy and Elizabeth's relationship continues to be joyous and loving. Most sequels plunge the pair into drama of somekind.
Overall, a wonderful sequel and I finished it with a smile (Mr Collins is going to be fuming!)