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The Pemberley Chronicles #1
The Pemberley Chronicles
"Those with a taste for the balance and humour of Austen will find a worthy companion volume."-Book News
The weddings are over.
The guests (including millions of readers and viewers) wish the two happy couples health and happiness. As the music swells and the credits roll, two things are Jane and Bingley will want for nothing, while Elizabeth and Darcy are to be the happiest couple in the world!
The couples' personal stories of love, marriage, money, and children are woven together with the threads of social and political history of nineteenth century England. As changes in industry and agriculture affect the people of Pemberley and the neighboring countryside, the Darcys strive to be progressive and forward-looking while upholding beloved traditions.
Rebecca Ann Collins follows them in imagination, observing and chronicling their passage through the landscape of their surroundings, noting how they cope with change, triumph, and tragedy in their lives.
"A lovely complementary novel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Austen would surely give her smile of approval." -Beverly Wong, author of Pride & Prejudice Prudence
The weddings are over.
The guests (including millions of readers and viewers) wish the two happy couples health and happiness. As the music swells and the credits roll, two things are Jane and Bingley will want for nothing, while Elizabeth and Darcy are to be the happiest couple in the world!
The couples' personal stories of love, marriage, money, and children are woven together with the threads of social and political history of nineteenth century England. As changes in industry and agriculture affect the people of Pemberley and the neighboring countryside, the Darcys strive to be progressive and forward-looking while upholding beloved traditions.
Rebecca Ann Collins follows them in imagination, observing and chronicling their passage through the landscape of their surroundings, noting how they cope with change, triumph, and tragedy in their lives.
"A lovely complementary novel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Austen would surely give her smile of approval." -Beverly Wong, author of Pride & Prejudice Prudence
384 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2008
122 people are currently reading
3530 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Ann Collins
25 books65 followersRebecca Ann Collins is the pen name of a lady in Australia who loves Jane Austen’s work so much that she has written a series of sequels to Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, following Austen’s beloved characters, introducing new ones and bringing the characters into a new historical era.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 247 reviews
July 30, 2009
This book exemplifies Jane Austen's wisdom in ending the original P&P with the weddings and merely sketching in a few pages what happens after. If, in fact, you want a beloved character to have a happy ever after, it's best to leave it to the imagination, for all that eternal happiness makes for dull reading. In this book, everyone acts with the noblest of intentions, speaks with admirable directness and honesty, and should the author allow a bad thing to happen, their love and kindness and devotion for one another quickly clear things up. When the merest hint of a conflict occurs, it is all smoothed over within a few pages, and it's back to the business of marrying off this incredibly large cast of descendants from the Gardiners, the Darcys, the Collins and the Bingleys. Very dull stuff. Would have been nice to have a visit from one of Austen's nicely drawn but less worthy characters. Wickham, Collins, Lydia, Mrs. Bennet, and Caroline Bingley are all firmly kept off stage, so that everyone else can get down to the serious business of being very happy, very noble, very progressive, and very very dull.
August 28, 2009
In a Pride and Prejudice sequel I think everybody looks for the same thing: recapturing the wonderful feelings and experiences we had when reading Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." Whether it is the characters we like, the wit of Jane Austen, or the romance between Lizzy and Darcy; we all want it to be continued and that is why we read the many, many sequels we do.
I was eager to read Ms. Collin's works because there are so many and they looked very intriguing. I have to say I was disappointed with this first book and probably will NOT read the others. I do agree with the other reviewers that the author was very knowledgeable about the socio-economic conflicts of that time period, and she did a very thorough job on her research. However, I too, felt that there was too much about the social and economic struggles in England (35% of the book) I felt it took away from the story and our beloved characters.
In this book we see our favorite characters after their weddings and into the first 25 years of marriage. Because the author wanted to include 25 years in one book there are fewer details and gaps of time where years go by and we don't know anything that occurred during that time. In my opinion the details about Darcy and Elizabeth are the best parts, the dialogues, the daily conversations, were missing and stilted (no sparkling wit!). I felt like the author summarized what occurred in their lives instead of let us see how it all played out. Again, a summary of their lives is not what was desired, details were!
I did like how the author brought everyone together. I do believe sisters as close as Elizabeth and Jane would not be separated by Netherfield and Pemberley and I am glad she chose to have them live closer together. The author introduced us to new characters, however with so many characters floating around she started to drop some of their story-lines. Like Georgiana, she started to disappear towards the end of the book! I know Darcy would not go years and years without seeing his sister!
The last thing that irked me was that everything was so perfect. Darcy was the perfect husband, Elizabeth was the perfect wife, everyone got alone perfectly. Now, in Pride and Prejudice didn't Darcy have some imperfections? Didn't Elizabeth? I found it unrealistic that everyone was so happy and life went so smoothly all the time. Part of why I liked Pride and Prejudice was because it was realistic. People do make snap judgments, jump to conclusions, harbor grudges. We can relate to Pride and Prejudice, in Pemberley Chronicles everyone who falls in love, has that love returned, in every circumstance everyone does the right thing and I feel it is too unrealistic. I do think the author saw that she was making the book too unbelievable so she threw in a tragic event towards the end, but for me it was too tragic and so startling, it ruined the ending for me.
To summarize:
What I did like:
- The closeness of Elizabeth and Jane (it made me wish I had a sister!)
- All our familiar characters and their stories being continued
What I did not like:
- How so much of the book was about the socio-economic struggles of that time period
- How some characters story-lines where discarded and left incomplete
- How the author tried to cover a span of 25 years and gave us a summary of their lives instead of details
- How Darcy and Elizabeth had a unbelievably perfect marriage where they never had anything to overcome (except that last terribly tragic and horrific event!)
I do not profess that everyone will feel the same way as I do about this book, but I would like to help those who are unsure make a better decision about buying or borrowing it from a library. I recommend it for Jane Austen fans that want to read EVERYTHING about Jane Austen. Also those who don't like the sequels that have a lot R-rated parts in them will like this one because there are no love scenes. Thirdly, I think people who like history will enjoy reading this book for all the history parts are well researched and will be interesting to them.
I was eager to read Ms. Collin's works because there are so many and they looked very intriguing. I have to say I was disappointed with this first book and probably will NOT read the others. I do agree with the other reviewers that the author was very knowledgeable about the socio-economic conflicts of that time period, and she did a very thorough job on her research. However, I too, felt that there was too much about the social and economic struggles in England (35% of the book) I felt it took away from the story and our beloved characters.
In this book we see our favorite characters after their weddings and into the first 25 years of marriage. Because the author wanted to include 25 years in one book there are fewer details and gaps of time where years go by and we don't know anything that occurred during that time. In my opinion the details about Darcy and Elizabeth are the best parts, the dialogues, the daily conversations, were missing and stilted (no sparkling wit!). I felt like the author summarized what occurred in their lives instead of let us see how it all played out. Again, a summary of their lives is not what was desired, details were!
I did like how the author brought everyone together. I do believe sisters as close as Elizabeth and Jane would not be separated by Netherfield and Pemberley and I am glad she chose to have them live closer together. The author introduced us to new characters, however with so many characters floating around she started to drop some of their story-lines. Like Georgiana, she started to disappear towards the end of the book! I know Darcy would not go years and years without seeing his sister!
The last thing that irked me was that everything was so perfect. Darcy was the perfect husband, Elizabeth was the perfect wife, everyone got alone perfectly. Now, in Pride and Prejudice didn't Darcy have some imperfections? Didn't Elizabeth? I found it unrealistic that everyone was so happy and life went so smoothly all the time. Part of why I liked Pride and Prejudice was because it was realistic. People do make snap judgments, jump to conclusions, harbor grudges. We can relate to Pride and Prejudice, in Pemberley Chronicles everyone who falls in love, has that love returned, in every circumstance everyone does the right thing and I feel it is too unrealistic. I do think the author saw that she was making the book too unbelievable so she threw in a tragic event towards the end, but for me it was too tragic and so startling, it ruined the ending for me.
To summarize:
What I did like:
- The closeness of Elizabeth and Jane (it made me wish I had a sister!)
- All our familiar characters and their stories being continued
What I did not like:
- How so much of the book was about the socio-economic struggles of that time period
- How some characters story-lines where discarded and left incomplete
- How the author tried to cover a span of 25 years and gave us a summary of their lives instead of details
- How Darcy and Elizabeth had a unbelievably perfect marriage where they never had anything to overcome (except that last terribly tragic and horrific event!)
I do not profess that everyone will feel the same way as I do about this book, but I would like to help those who are unsure make a better decision about buying or borrowing it from a library. I recommend it for Jane Austen fans that want to read EVERYTHING about Jane Austen. Also those who don't like the sequels that have a lot R-rated parts in them will like this one because there are no love scenes. Thirdly, I think people who like history will enjoy reading this book for all the history parts are well researched and will be interesting to them.
April 24, 2020
This was a sweet meandering tale. The pace was gentle and there wasn't an overarching plot. However, I enjoyed this book. I felt the characters were faithful to Jane Austen's story represented well. If you are looking for a sequel that is sweet and feels at home in Jane Auten's world, this is it.
Notes: there is the same level of cursing that there is in P&P. This book covers about twenty-five years of time and not a consistent rate.
Notes: there is the same level of cursing that there is in P&P. This book covers about twenty-five years of time and not a consistent rate.
July 2, 2008
The entire book can be summed up in nine words made into three sentences.
I'm so happy. You're so happy. We're so happy.
It couldn't be less interesting if it tried. Oh. Wait. Maybe it did.
I'm so happy. You're so happy. We're so happy.
It couldn't be less interesting if it tried. Oh. Wait. Maybe it did.
February 2, 2017
I just...I want to say...I think I'm just going to stay silent on this P&P retelling.
January 8, 2009
It started out good and I really was excited to read it but by about page 150 I was beginning to lose track of who married who and which kids belonged to which couples. The further I read the less I heard about Darcy and Elizabeth and the more I was reading about other people I didn't care about as much. I found it quite funny that she states when there 1st child is born that she was the center of her parents universe - and then we don't hear anything of her again (except in mention of cousins getting together) until she is 16.
The History aspect of it was somewhat enlightening but I think out of place in an Austen style book - she never mentioned anything about the history of the times except in passing as it pertained to the officers in the military.
One thing that did really annoy me was that she had Charlotte Lucas Collins calling Elizabeth "Eliza" instead of "Lizzy." Maybe I am wrong about this but I would swear to the fact that the only people who ever called her "Eliza" was the awful Caroline Bingley and Lady Catherine De Bourgh. It always seemed out of place to have her longtime family friend calling her by that nickname.
All in all it was a relatively good read although my interest began to wane. I don't believe however that I will continue to read the rest of the series. I'm just not quite that interested in the lives of anyone ever connected to the Darcy's.
The History aspect of it was somewhat enlightening but I think out of place in an Austen style book - she never mentioned anything about the history of the times except in passing as it pertained to the officers in the military.
One thing that did really annoy me was that she had Charlotte Lucas Collins calling Elizabeth "Eliza" instead of "Lizzy." Maybe I am wrong about this but I would swear to the fact that the only people who ever called her "Eliza" was the awful Caroline Bingley and Lady Catherine De Bourgh. It always seemed out of place to have her longtime family friend calling her by that nickname.
All in all it was a relatively good read although my interest began to wane. I don't believe however that I will continue to read the rest of the series. I'm just not quite that interested in the lives of anyone ever connected to the Darcy's.
February 18, 2016
Все едно се върнах в атмосферата на "Гордост и предразсъдъци". Много добро продължение! Нови герои, братовчеди, деца, сватби... Развитие на характерите и социална ангажираност, която в никакъв случай не разваля повествованието. Препоръчвам книгата на всички любители на творчеството на Джейн Остин.
December 23, 2016
Format: e-book, Source: Library check out: 3.5 stars
“A chronicle is very different from history proper.” Howard Nemerov
This was Book 1 in the Pride and Prejudice Sequel Series. Before writing this review, I checked the reviews on Amazon. Of the 58 reviews, 22% were 5-star, 14% 4-star, 28% 3-star, 19% 2-star and 17% 1-star. That is a broad spread. 5-stars indicates the reader loved it, 3-stars indicate liked it, while 1-star…obvious…hated it. What would cause such a variety of emotions regarding this book? Well I have an idea.
First: it was way too long. I should have realized when you have the word Chronicles in the title…that should indicate covering a… long… period… of time. Should have noticed that. In fact, at about 20% of the way through…I speed read the rest of the book. When it involved my characters, I’d stop and read it. I skimmed each paragraph to see what was going on and moved on. I couldn’t take it.
Second: the author tried to encompass too much information, infuse too many issues going on in England and their territories during that time period. It was the daily news version of P&P. Or was it P&P with the daily news thrown in? Which came first? Perhaps the author was a history buff and wanted to write a JAFF so they could show societal changes and its effects on those characters. In Persuasion, Anne mentioned it was a glorious age. Of course, she was talking about poetry; however, it was still a glorious age.
We are given a thorough rundown on politics and all the participating parties, the monarchy and their problems, the trickle-down effect of economics, government, laws, scandal, morality, safety on the streets [riots, foot-pads], lack of housing, industrial vs Luddite, country vs city, rich vs poor, aristocracy vs gentry vs gentle-born vs trade vs peasant, education [and lack thereof], health care, abuse of land resources, the threat to clean rivers and land due to industry and mining abuses, corrupt governmental officials and much more. If my few little paragraphs bored you, or got on your nerves, imagine hundreds of pages like that.
Third: trying to handle way too many people, who by the time I got to the end, I no longer knew who they were, who they belonged to, and forgot why they were even there. I simply could not carry a thread that long and keep track. Especially when some of these were several steps away from our main characters. I was lost in the middle of a crowd of friends, family, their children, lovers, marriages, births, deaths and travels. Travels… they did a lot of traveling. I needed a map. Some of those trips seemed awfully quick when the Concord was no longer in service [you may have to look that up]. Traveling from Italy back to England usually took a while and I don’t think it was that way in this story. Perhaps I read it too quickly.
It was well written. It was low angst, very little passion, and excessive telling [over and over] how fortunate they were to have each other. There was a lot of letter exchanges. We were able to experience what was going on with someone as they exchanged letters with relations. The author tried to touch base with each character we knew from canon. That muddled the story line a bit so they could mention a character’s name. Just so we could touch base with them. Then there were a few strange parings… that made the reader scratch their head. Lady Catherine wouldn’t normally give the time of day to a trade person if she could help it. In fact, she would rather cross the street than greet them in public. However, in this version… she befriended Caroline Bingley. What??? I don’t even remember what happened to Anne de Bourgh. See… I have forgotten already.
It seemed that everyone made good decisions, moved close to each other… to the point most of Derbyshire belonged to Darcy, friends and family. That gave them clout when change threatened their door. Evil was up front and evident. You knew who was bad and who was good. When it seemed too perfect, the author suddenly threw in a little diversion that was handled quickly and to everyone’s benefit.
With any chronicles, you will have marriages, births, and deaths. Our characters all had to experience these human frailties. We rejoiced with them in the happy times and grieved with them during the bad times. And that is what this book was about. History buffs will love the chronicles of England’s glory age, P&P lovers will rejoice in the daily lives of their favorite couples, and lovers of both with rejoice in the fusion of the two. It was a slow journey with only a few bumps in the road so just relax and enjoy.
“A chronicle is very different from history proper.” Howard Nemerov
This was Book 1 in the Pride and Prejudice Sequel Series. Before writing this review, I checked the reviews on Amazon. Of the 58 reviews, 22% were 5-star, 14% 4-star, 28% 3-star, 19% 2-star and 17% 1-star. That is a broad spread. 5-stars indicates the reader loved it, 3-stars indicate liked it, while 1-star…obvious…hated it. What would cause such a variety of emotions regarding this book? Well I have an idea.
First: it was way too long. I should have realized when you have the word Chronicles in the title…that should indicate covering a… long… period… of time. Should have noticed that. In fact, at about 20% of the way through…I speed read the rest of the book. When it involved my characters, I’d stop and read it. I skimmed each paragraph to see what was going on and moved on. I couldn’t take it.
Second: the author tried to encompass too much information, infuse too many issues going on in England and their territories during that time period. It was the daily news version of P&P. Or was it P&P with the daily news thrown in? Which came first? Perhaps the author was a history buff and wanted to write a JAFF so they could show societal changes and its effects on those characters. In Persuasion, Anne mentioned it was a glorious age. Of course, she was talking about poetry; however, it was still a glorious age.
We are given a thorough rundown on politics and all the participating parties, the monarchy and their problems, the trickle-down effect of economics, government, laws, scandal, morality, safety on the streets [riots, foot-pads], lack of housing, industrial vs Luddite, country vs city, rich vs poor, aristocracy vs gentry vs gentle-born vs trade vs peasant, education [and lack thereof], health care, abuse of land resources, the threat to clean rivers and land due to industry and mining abuses, corrupt governmental officials and much more. If my few little paragraphs bored you, or got on your nerves, imagine hundreds of pages like that.
Third: trying to handle way too many people, who by the time I got to the end, I no longer knew who they were, who they belonged to, and forgot why they were even there. I simply could not carry a thread that long and keep track. Especially when some of these were several steps away from our main characters. I was lost in the middle of a crowd of friends, family, their children, lovers, marriages, births, deaths and travels. Travels… they did a lot of traveling. I needed a map. Some of those trips seemed awfully quick when the Concord was no longer in service [you may have to look that up]. Traveling from Italy back to England usually took a while and I don’t think it was that way in this story. Perhaps I read it too quickly.
It was well written. It was low angst, very little passion, and excessive telling [over and over] how fortunate they were to have each other. There was a lot of letter exchanges. We were able to experience what was going on with someone as they exchanged letters with relations. The author tried to touch base with each character we knew from canon. That muddled the story line a bit so they could mention a character’s name. Just so we could touch base with them. Then there were a few strange parings… that made the reader scratch their head. Lady Catherine wouldn’t normally give the time of day to a trade person if she could help it. In fact, she would rather cross the street than greet them in public. However, in this version… she befriended Caroline Bingley. What??? I don’t even remember what happened to Anne de Bourgh. See… I have forgotten already.
It seemed that everyone made good decisions, moved close to each other… to the point most of Derbyshire belonged to Darcy, friends and family. That gave them clout when change threatened their door. Evil was up front and evident. You knew who was bad and who was good. When it seemed too perfect, the author suddenly threw in a little diversion that was handled quickly and to everyone’s benefit.
With any chronicles, you will have marriages, births, and deaths. Our characters all had to experience these human frailties. We rejoiced with them in the happy times and grieved with them during the bad times. And that is what this book was about. History buffs will love the chronicles of England’s glory age, P&P lovers will rejoice in the daily lives of their favorite couples, and lovers of both with rejoice in the fusion of the two. It was a slow journey with only a few bumps in the road so just relax and enjoy.
July 15, 2016
This enormously sugar-coated companion volume has made me physically blood sugar sick and shake with such insulin spikes that I fear I will never be able to read another 'Pride & Prejudice' companion novel again. And perhaps that's a good thing.
I'm not sure I can find a lot of good to say about this other than, finally!, after 280 odd pages, tragedy strikes and we're spared yet another 'oh so happy, isn't life just truly wonderful' year of Darcy and Elizabeth. I was quite glad that life wasn't all that wonderful after all but you just have to wait a few pages and happiness returns once again.
Perhaps I'm more practical like Mrs Collins but seriously, who can stand this intoxicatingly sweet 'we're the happiest couple in the world' blah blah for 300 pages?! I wanted some depth - yep, even in this sort of novel, I want some depth of character, fancy that - but instead I got sugar in such large quantities I could hardly bear it.
I hope this has put me on a path to recovery from these exceedingly silly novels, and I ask myself what I expected and whether I'm the silly one for reading these books... :)
I'm not sure I can find a lot of good to say about this other than, finally!, after 280 odd pages, tragedy strikes and we're spared yet another 'oh so happy, isn't life just truly wonderful' year of Darcy and Elizabeth. I was quite glad that life wasn't all that wonderful after all but you just have to wait a few pages and happiness returns once again.
Perhaps I'm more practical like Mrs Collins but seriously, who can stand this intoxicatingly sweet 'we're the happiest couple in the world' blah blah for 300 pages?! I wanted some depth - yep, even in this sort of novel, I want some depth of character, fancy that - but instead I got sugar in such large quantities I could hardly bear it.
I hope this has put me on a path to recovery from these exceedingly silly novels, and I ask myself what I expected and whether I'm the silly one for reading these books... :)
August 1, 2023
Uma fan-fiction de Orgulho e Preconceito.
Escrito ao jeito de Jane Austen, gostei imenso!
Escrito ao jeito de Jane Austen, gostei imenso!
April 16, 2010
I'm only 1/3 of the way into this book and I don't know if I will be able to finish. So far the vast majority of the book is the characters reminiscing events from Pride and Prejudice or telling their companion how perfect they are and how they could never be happier! Enough is enough. Every good story needs SOME sort of conflict and so far everything has been too idyllic, making this a less than interesting read. Yawn.
***
Technically this shouldn't be on my read shelf because I never finished. I tried. I really did, but I just couldn't get myself to read one more page. I kept thinking it would get better but it gets worse. She introduces so many new characters without developing any of them so then when they come back in the picture I couldn't remember who they were. Everything that happens is repeated several times as the characters talk about what is going to happen, then the narrator writes about it happening, then the characters write letters about what happened and finally they refer back to past events constantly. You feel like you are reading a broken record. Even the political history she tries to weave into the story jars with the narration so you feel like excerpts from a history book were thrown in. I don't know HOW she continues the story for SEVEN more books! Maybe once Jane Austin's original characters die off she can go somewhere with her characters--I'll never know because I don't think I could stomach it.
***
Technically this shouldn't be on my read shelf because I never finished. I tried. I really did, but I just couldn't get myself to read one more page. I kept thinking it would get better but it gets worse. She introduces so many new characters without developing any of them so then when they come back in the picture I couldn't remember who they were. Everything that happens is repeated several times as the characters talk about what is going to happen, then the narrator writes about it happening, then the characters write letters about what happened and finally they refer back to past events constantly. You feel like you are reading a broken record. Even the political history she tries to weave into the story jars with the narration so you feel like excerpts from a history book were thrown in. I don't know HOW she continues the story for SEVEN more books! Maybe once Jane Austin's original characters die off she can go somewhere with her characters--I'll never know because I don't think I could stomach it.
June 18, 2012
What started out to be a very good and well thought-out sequel to Pride & Prejudice turned out to be a great disappointment! For one thing, I noticed the writer chose to kill off four important characters, much to my surprise and shock, that were instrumental in the previous book in making the book truly interesting. Even though Mr. Collins had his faults, I literally cried when I read what happened to him. Mr. Collins brought such humor to the story and he is sadly missed. I will not mention the other characters, but in my opinion none of these people should have been killed off in this first book of the series. It sort of tainted my remembrance of such a great book as Pride & Prejudice, and I felt depressed after reading about the deaths; therefore, I choose to remember the characters in all of their gaiety and verve as how they were in the original work of Pride & Prejudice. The writer seems to take the reader on a roller coaster ride of extreme triumphs to extremely sad fatalities. The writer also spends too much time grousing over, re-phrasing and detailing certain triumphs and glosses over the sudden deaths of certain characters. If you are emotional like I am, I would not recommend reading this book as it will leave you feeling depressed in the end, or taking a long break before you proceed to the other books in the series.
October 6, 2008
The introduction in the book goes on to say how so many of the sequels have Elizabeth and Darcy acting like characters out of Dynasty. How true! That right there intrigued me, along with the fact that she admits to not trying to imitate Jane Austen's style but tries to place the characters in the changing times that they would have seen.
I think she does very well at that and showing how their lives might have changed over time. I had a few complaints, namely the environmentalism Darcy shows seems almost a modern contrivance, though I'm sure there were people disturbed by it at the time. It was a little heavy on politics which Jane Austen usually avoided, but I wonder how much Austen would have done so had she lived to see the changes that rapidly overtook English society. Also, I don't think Jane Austen would have put Elizabeth and Darcy into the events that unfold near the end. Then again maybe that's just because I don't want anything remotely bad to ever happen to them.
Otherwise this is historically very well done. The characters remain true to their essential natures, and I liked it very much.
I think she does very well at that and showing how their lives might have changed over time. I had a few complaints, namely the environmentalism Darcy shows seems almost a modern contrivance, though I'm sure there were people disturbed by it at the time. It was a little heavy on politics which Jane Austen usually avoided, but I wonder how much Austen would have done so had she lived to see the changes that rapidly overtook English society. Also, I don't think Jane Austen would have put Elizabeth and Darcy into the events that unfold near the end. Then again maybe that's just because I don't want anything remotely bad to ever happen to them.
Otherwise this is historically very well done. The characters remain true to their essential natures, and I liked it very much.
July 13, 2019
Трябва да си призная, че ми беше много трудно началото на тази книга и първата половина се насилих да я мина. Втората част обаче много по-леко я прочетох и даже й се насладих, независимо от твърде сладникавото изразяване, което никак не ми напомняше стила на Джейн Остин, но това са подробности.
Можех да живея и без да съм прочела това своеобразно продължение на историите за любимите ми герои от "Гордост и предразсъдъци", но не беше и лошо. Всъщност втората половина повече ми хареса, именно защото успях да се абстрахирам от познатите ми герои и започнах да гледам на книгата като на напълно различен роман, начало на една сериозна поредица, която вероятно не бих довършила, просто защото тази първа книга беше приятна, но нищо заслужаващо си по-нататъшно внимание. :)
Можех да живея и без да съм прочела това своеобразно продължение на историите за любимите ми герои от "Гордост и предразсъдъци", но не беше и лошо. Всъщност втората половина повече ми хареса, именно защото успях да се абстрахирам от познатите ми герои и започнах да гледам на книгата като на напълно различен роман, начало на една сериозна поредица, която вероятно не бих довършила, просто защото тази първа книга беше приятна, но нищо заслужаващо си по-нататъшно внимание. :)
July 9, 2009
This is one of the worst P&P fan fictions I have ever read. It may be the only one I have ever not finished. Every time Darcy takes any action in the book Elizabeth is amazed that he is SO GOOD and KIND and how AMAZING he is and how LUCKY she is. And Mrs. Gardiner concurs and so does Jane, AMAZING. Even after a year of marriage every kind word is REMARKABLE. I have a high tolerance for syropy romance (as evidence by the fact that I read P&P fan fiction) but this was WAY TOO MUCH for me.
June 27, 2024
I really enjoyed the author's writing. It was similar to the cadence and type of descriptions of Jane Austen books. It is also a very long and detailed book. I'm NOT COMPLAINING. ( I took some reading breaks on this book as you can see from how long it took to read library books and others)
I loved the story and the writing. Need to just concentrate on her whole series one book after another when I can.
I loved the story and the writing. Need to just concentrate on her whole series one book after another when I can.
March 3, 2022
Pride and Prejudice is my favorite book. I try so hard to like sequels and rarely do. This one is sickeningly sweet. There is something about it that caused me to constantly roll my eyes. Also, if someone reads sequels like these, we are generally big fans of the originals so we don’t need a recap of what happened in P&P every three pages. It was so annoying. I don’t mind sweet stories. I appreciate them, in fact, but this was way over the top.
June 3, 2015
Dull with an overabundance of hugging, praise, and endless description. So many encomiums that I'm encomatose.
October 9, 2025
I'm about half way through this book and I don't think I can make it any further. It seems that living happily ever after was taken a little too literally here as everyone is thrilled to bits with their marriages, always noble honest and true and any conflict is minor and cleared up within a few pages so everyone can go back to being happy and having children. And while I'm happy for them, I'm not interested in their ridiculous amount of descendants growing up and getting married and having children of their own. And because the author is trying to cram so much darn happiness into a few hundred pages, we miss getting to actually SEE any of it. There's hardly any dialogue or interactions between the characters. Just overall not my cup of tea and not what I was looking for in a companion novel to Pride and Prejudice.
April 11, 2020
Sappy and rather dull. I wouldn't recommend this book anyone, but at times it provided a nice escape during the "stay-at-home" order.
December 22, 2020
Look I’m not really someone to shoot down someone who’s made an effort. This author has certainly made an effort and should be commended for that as this book is quite long, heavy on the historical aspects, and the first of what is apparently quite a large series of books.
But for the love of all that is good and maybe even Jane Austen herself, I cannot believe this book was published. Maybe the publishers had a point that “fans will buy anything” - after all I spent $30 on it that I wish I’d spent elsewhere - but to be fair it was because I’d forgotten a good friend’s warning from more than a decade ago to steer clear of it. It was only after I started reading that I remembered her warning and why I hadn’t bought it around that time as I had all the other books I have with similar premises to this.
It is honestly poorly written fluff that is unedited and unstructured and should never have made it off the fan fiction site that it most likely started off on. I read it while quite ill and stuck in bed for a couple of weeks; even though I’m loathe to not finish books I start, under normal circumstances I almost certainly would have done so with this one. It covers about 25 years from immediately after the Bennet weddings, and (sorry, but there’s no other way to describe it) it’s just SO BAD it’s miserable. The characters apparently haven’t grown, changed or developed at all in those 25 years. Marriage has done remarkably little to change their perspectives or deepen their understandings, which seems particularly odd. Sure babies are born, people die, relatives get married, children grow up, but still... just nothing. It’s that most of all that I can’t excuse: It’s a gross injustice to the original author and her characters. Bad writing would be fine if the characters had some substance to them.
Goodreads doesn’t permit an active rating of zero stars, but if it did that’s what I’d give this one.
But for the love of all that is good and maybe even Jane Austen herself, I cannot believe this book was published. Maybe the publishers had a point that “fans will buy anything” - after all I spent $30 on it that I wish I’d spent elsewhere - but to be fair it was because I’d forgotten a good friend’s warning from more than a decade ago to steer clear of it. It was only after I started reading that I remembered her warning and why I hadn’t bought it around that time as I had all the other books I have with similar premises to this.
It is honestly poorly written fluff that is unedited and unstructured and should never have made it off the fan fiction site that it most likely started off on. I read it while quite ill and stuck in bed for a couple of weeks; even though I’m loathe to not finish books I start, under normal circumstances I almost certainly would have done so with this one. It covers about 25 years from immediately after the Bennet weddings, and (sorry, but there’s no other way to describe it) it’s just SO BAD it’s miserable. The characters apparently haven’t grown, changed or developed at all in those 25 years. Marriage has done remarkably little to change their perspectives or deepen their understandings, which seems particularly odd. Sure babies are born, people die, relatives get married, children grow up, but still... just nothing. It’s that most of all that I can’t excuse: It’s a gross injustice to the original author and her characters. Bad writing would be fine if the characters had some substance to them.
Goodreads doesn’t permit an active rating of zero stars, but if it did that’s what I’d give this one.
May 8, 2013
Own on Kindle.
A long time ago, maybe even before I owned a Kindle, Amazon was "selling for $0.00" Jane Austen books and some of the modern fan written sequels. I looked carefully at the reviews and chose a few including this book, The Pemberley Chronicles.
It has sat for a long time. I wasn't sure I'd actually read such a thing, but better to purchase for free rather than pay $9.99 (for a book I don't own!)
Recently, I noticed I was in my "not finishing anything" mode. Sometimes all I need is to finish *something* so I went looking for a novel, and this one seemed a good candidate. Soccer season is not good for my reading, I don't know how Cindy reads at baseball games. I didn't realize how long it was (I'm certain it's longer than Pride & Prejudice by a lot ... and there are 6 more!? Who knew?!?) or I might not have chosen it.
Anyway, I gave it 3 stars, I could have easily given it 2. It was fine, it seemed less cohesive story than I had expected. The first 25% seemed very self-congratulatory in that newlywed sense. They are so glad to be married and constantly reassuring themselves. At the 25% through something finally happened. But some statements were made about the politics of the time, the certainty of the Darcys being "right" and others "wrong" with only one side represented. And then that topic went away for the rest of the book. And that cycle was repeated with coal mining in Wales. And education. And the hospital. Once it was established that such and so ought to be done in such and such a manner, the whole line of story is dropped.
I also did not like the way the author dealt with Mrs. Bennett. Yes, she's annoying. Yes, she has no filter. But, yes, Elizabeth and Jane treated her with kindness and respect in Pride and Prejudice, but in this book she was treated disdainfully. Mr. Bennett comes out looking much better.
So, all that annoyed me. What did I like? I thought Collins did a good job of keeping the voices of the characters true to Pride & Prejudice. Sometimes, her reminders about Jane's goodness were heavy handed, but generally, the characters were the ones I met before. The Gardiners get a larger role in this book, which I enjoyed. I liked thinking about "what might have been" and, despite annoyances, kept picking it back up to read, so that's why I gave it 3 stars. I didn't have any sense of having to finish this (like several of the other books I'm reading) but I read it because I wanted to know what happened. Collins is clearly not Austen, but the writing was good enough.
A long time ago, maybe even before I owned a Kindle, Amazon was "selling for $0.00" Jane Austen books and some of the modern fan written sequels. I looked carefully at the reviews and chose a few including this book, The Pemberley Chronicles.
It has sat for a long time. I wasn't sure I'd actually read such a thing, but better to purchase for free rather than pay $9.99 (for a book I don't own!)
Recently, I noticed I was in my "not finishing anything" mode. Sometimes all I need is to finish *something* so I went looking for a novel, and this one seemed a good candidate. Soccer season is not good for my reading, I don't know how Cindy reads at baseball games. I didn't realize how long it was (I'm certain it's longer than Pride & Prejudice by a lot ... and there are 6 more!? Who knew?!?) or I might not have chosen it.
Anyway, I gave it 3 stars, I could have easily given it 2. It was fine, it seemed less cohesive story than I had expected. The first 25% seemed very self-congratulatory in that newlywed sense. They are so glad to be married and constantly reassuring themselves. At the 25% through something finally happened. But some statements were made about the politics of the time, the certainty of the Darcys being "right" and others "wrong" with only one side represented. And then that topic went away for the rest of the book. And that cycle was repeated with coal mining in Wales. And education. And the hospital. Once it was established that such and so ought to be done in such and such a manner, the whole line of story is dropped.
I also did not like the way the author dealt with Mrs. Bennett. Yes, she's annoying. Yes, she has no filter. But, yes, Elizabeth and Jane treated her with kindness and respect in Pride and Prejudice, but in this book she was treated disdainfully. Mr. Bennett comes out looking much better.
So, all that annoyed me. What did I like? I thought Collins did a good job of keeping the voices of the characters true to Pride & Prejudice. Sometimes, her reminders about Jane's goodness were heavy handed, but generally, the characters were the ones I met before. The Gardiners get a larger role in this book, which I enjoyed. I liked thinking about "what might have been" and, despite annoyances, kept picking it back up to read, so that's why I gave it 3 stars. I didn't have any sense of having to finish this (like several of the other books I'm reading) but I read it because I wanted to know what happened. Collins is clearly not Austen, but the writing was good enough.
June 24, 2011
In this Pride & Prejudice spin-off, Rebecca Ann Collins has picked up Elizabeth’s story directly after the wedding day. Elizabeth and Darcy have headed on their honeymoon tour and are now returning to visit Jane and Bingley before they travel home to Pemberley. From there, we watch as the Darcy family grows and expands, as Elizabeth adapts to her new home and faces the challenges of being a wife, a mother, and head of a prominent family. Along the way, Pemberley is challenged with the rest of the country as the parties of Parliament evolve and an age of Industrialization is changing the land. Being a landowner is shifting from being an envied and revered position to one which is challenged and reviled. And Darcy and Elizabeth must face heartbreak and joy as they age and enjoy their lives.
Of all the “spin-offs” of P&P I’ve read, this has to be by far the best. It doesn’t involve some supernatural mystery, or focus on the sexual relationship between it’s protagonists, but meanders along through the lives of the characters we’ve come to love in Jane Austen’s classic. We’re offered insight into the Bingleys and the Wickhams as well – offered several romances with cousins and children as they grow older and find loves of their own. And there is a wonderful balance between every day life and the events which changed England near the end of the Regency period.
If you enjoyed P&P for the romance and the gentle flow, this is a wonderful choice if you want the story to move on. While some may complain that it has no plot, I humbly disagree. Unless you consider following a life with its ups and downs as no plot. Elizabeth, Darcy, Jane, and Bingley are some of the most dear literary characters to my heart, and I was pleased and gratified to see them treated so wonderfully in Collins’ book. I look forward to picking up the next in the series.
Of all the “spin-offs” of P&P I’ve read, this has to be by far the best. It doesn’t involve some supernatural mystery, or focus on the sexual relationship between it’s protagonists, but meanders along through the lives of the characters we’ve come to love in Jane Austen’s classic. We’re offered insight into the Bingleys and the Wickhams as well – offered several romances with cousins and children as they grow older and find loves of their own. And there is a wonderful balance between every day life and the events which changed England near the end of the Regency period.
If you enjoyed P&P for the romance and the gentle flow, this is a wonderful choice if you want the story to move on. While some may complain that it has no plot, I humbly disagree. Unless you consider following a life with its ups and downs as no plot. Elizabeth, Darcy, Jane, and Bingley are some of the most dear literary characters to my heart, and I was pleased and gratified to see them treated so wonderfully in Collins’ book. I look forward to picking up the next in the series.
August 23, 2008
I purchased this book with high hopes considering there are already 3 books in the series. Thus I somewhat expected a somewhat in depth chronicling of the characters lives.
It started off promising and I was very much hooked for the first part of the book, but the entire second half completely lost me. Mainly because the first half only spanned 5 years and the second half about 15-20 years. From one chapter the next 7 years would pass and you would be left wondering what happened during that gap.
I bought the 2nd book at the same time as buying the 1st but now I have no interest in reading it, because in glancing through it it seems another 40 years passes. You just can't get the opportunity to really get to know all the new characters introduced (mainly the children of all the original characters) when huge chunks of their lives pass in 10 pages.
Also, the book had a huge amount dedicated to the government and issues of the time. At first I appreciated this because it helped to explain why some things happened and some people felt/acted the way they did. In the end though it seemed the history lesson became the priority and the characters and their lives were secondary.
All in all better than most Pride and Prejudice sequels I have read, but somewhere in the middle it completely lost its focus unfortunately.
It started off promising and I was very much hooked for the first part of the book, but the entire second half completely lost me. Mainly because the first half only spanned 5 years and the second half about 15-20 years. From one chapter the next 7 years would pass and you would be left wondering what happened during that gap.
I bought the 2nd book at the same time as buying the 1st but now I have no interest in reading it, because in glancing through it it seems another 40 years passes. You just can't get the opportunity to really get to know all the new characters introduced (mainly the children of all the original characters) when huge chunks of their lives pass in 10 pages.
Also, the book had a huge amount dedicated to the government and issues of the time. At first I appreciated this because it helped to explain why some things happened and some people felt/acted the way they did. In the end though it seemed the history lesson became the priority and the characters and their lives were secondary.
All in all better than most Pride and Prejudice sequels I have read, but somewhere in the middle it completely lost its focus unfortunately.
December 6, 2011
Ugh. I started out with such high hopes for this book! A few months ago I read one of the later books in the series and really enjoyed it, so I thought i should start at the beginning. Unfortunately, this book manages to take everything that made P&P wonderful and obliterate it in less than 100 pages. For me, the most difficult thing to swallow was the sappy romance of Darcy and Elizabeth (and for me to say something is too sappy you KNOW it's bad). Their personalities and their flaws were completely erased in favor of a happily ever after without a single difference of opinion! It was just a little much. On top of that, the storyline was convoluted and confusing, there were too many characters, and the writing style put me to sleep. It was a clean book, and some sections were not too bad, but overall I just couldn't get into the book. To be honest, I haven't even been able to muster enough interest to gag down the last quarter of the book!
All this being said, the two later books in the series I read were pretty good, so I'll try number 2 and see how it goes.
All this being said, the two later books in the series I read were pretty good, so I'll try number 2 and see how it goes.
June 19, 2012
I had great hopes for this book since I read Pride and Prejudice and watched the 1995 BBC adaptation of the book. Both are at the top of my list for great books and movie adaptations. It started out pretty promising. But I feel as if the author would rather have us focus on the new characters she created rather then the great characters, Jane Austen, created in the original. I am none too happy that some of the best characters from the original were killed off and the remaining characters are aging too quickly. The original characters personality solidifies the story. British movies and I am willing to say British Authors, seem to make minor characters not so minor and give them a storyline of their own. Rebecca Ann Collins, sorely does not understand this concept.
RAC has 9 other books in this series and not keeping these characters makes me not want to read the other 9. I own #2 and it will sit on my shelf for a long time before I pick it up again. I think I will pick up a SCI FI, book to take my mind off the disappointment.
RAC has 9 other books in this series and not keeping these characters makes me not want to read the other 9. I own #2 and it will sit on my shelf for a long time before I pick it up again. I think I will pick up a SCI FI, book to take my mind off the disappointment.
August 7, 2022
I started using Goodreads in 2019 to log every book I read. One main reason was that my collection of Jane Austen spin-offs and sequels had grown so large that I would look at a book and couldn’t remember if I had read it, and if I had read it, I couldn’t remember if I had liked it. 🤪
As I began reading The Pemberley Chronicles, I didn’t think I had read it before. It is a continuation of Pride and Prejudice and spans more than twenty-five years. Once I got to page 313, I recognized that I had previously read it. If you just can’t get enough P&P, this book may be for you. As for me, I think I have FINALLY read enough spin-offs and sequels to feel I have reached my limit. Obviously, this book is forgettable enough if I didn’t even realize I had read it until I was more than 300 pages in. I am to the point where I would rather reread the original than another “companion volume.”
“How little we know even those closest to us” (276).
“Shared sorrow created a bond deeper than shared happiness, it seemed” (320).
As I began reading The Pemberley Chronicles, I didn’t think I had read it before. It is a continuation of Pride and Prejudice and spans more than twenty-five years. Once I got to page 313, I recognized that I had previously read it. If you just can’t get enough P&P, this book may be for you. As for me, I think I have FINALLY read enough spin-offs and sequels to feel I have reached my limit. Obviously, this book is forgettable enough if I didn’t even realize I had read it until I was more than 300 pages in. I am to the point where I would rather reread the original than another “companion volume.”
“How little we know even those closest to us” (276).
“Shared sorrow created a bond deeper than shared happiness, it seemed” (320).
April 2, 2012
Rebecca Ann Collins is my very favorite Pride and Prejudice fan fiction writer.
She does an excellent job of expanding upon the lives of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy, and all those associated with them, post Pride and Prejudice. Collins successfully manages to maintain Austen's "voice" throughout her Pemberley series, and the new characters introduced into the lives of the Darcy's are believable and generally very well fleshed out. I never finished one of the Pemberley books without anxiously wondering what would happen to those charcters in the next book.
The historical background is thorough; although, if you're not a history buff, you might find Collins' books a bit too historically indepth. (Not being an aficionado of English history, I can't confirm how accurate her historical data is.)
She does an excellent job of expanding upon the lives of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy, and all those associated with them, post Pride and Prejudice. Collins successfully manages to maintain Austen's "voice" throughout her Pemberley series, and the new characters introduced into the lives of the Darcy's are believable and generally very well fleshed out. I never finished one of the Pemberley books without anxiously wondering what would happen to those charcters in the next book.
The historical background is thorough; although, if you're not a history buff, you might find Collins' books a bit too historically indepth. (Not being an aficionado of English history, I can't confirm how accurate her historical data is.)
May 14, 2011
Ok, I really didn't read it. I only read the first 5 chapters, and it was so bad that I couldn't waste my time finishing the rest of the almost 400-page book. Sometimes Jane Austen "fanfic" types of sequels are interesting and fun. And sometimes they try so hard to use flowery language and witticisms to mimic Austen, that they just end up flowery and false. This book fell into the latter category. Too much copying of phrases from Pride and Prejudice, too many of the same adjectives thrown in for effect...a valiant attempt, perhaps...but it just didn't do anything for me. And besides, Elizabeth was crying like every five minutes. :P
April 12, 2016
This book is so ponderous and dull I can't believe I actually read all the way to the end of it. The author has none of the wit or social satire that makes Jane Austen's work the classic material that it is. Over and over we hear the same things about the nobility and generosity of Mr. Darcy, the wickedness of Lydia and Wickham, the nobility and generosity of Mr. Darcy, the sweetness of Jane, the nobility and generosity of Mr. Darcy, etcetera etcetera etcetera. The writing is leaden, and the character stories are not particularly interesting. None of the really interesting characters ever show up beyond the merest cameo.
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