The Journey Home To Pemberley: A Pride and Prejudice Variation in Austen Variations

Sep 11, 2019 Sheila Majczan rated it it was amazing

Know that this is 5+ stars read for me - love Joana Starnes' prose. There is lots of angst which I also love. And now I am reading this story a second time. I did receive an ARC with no requirements in return.

I hope not to spoil this for anyone. The book is long.

My heart went out to both players. The setting is post Hunsford Proposal as Aunt and Uncle Gardiner tour Lake Country with Elizabeth. They meet Darcy when he is brought unconscious into an inn from which he rode away and was then thrown Know that this is 5+ stars read for me - love Joana Starnes' prose. There is lots of angst which I also love. And now I am reading this story a second time. I did receive an ARC with no requirements in return.

I hope not to spoil this for anyone. The book is long.

My heart went out to both players. The setting is post Hunsford Proposal as Aunt and Uncle Gardiner tour Lake Country with Elizabeth. They meet Darcy when he is brought unconscious into an inn from which he rode away and was then thrown from his horse. Elizabeth has gradually changed her opinion about Darcy and her attachment grows as she sits and cares for him (on the sly) during the first night there. He then accompanies them, acting as a guide, while they complete their tour towards their destination in Lambton. He further invites them to stay at Pemberley, which soon becomes inundated with some expected and unexpected visitors, besides Georgiana and the Colonel. The Gardiner party moves to the inn in Lambton where they had originally planned to reside. There are 2 letters from Jane. Here the news is much worse than in canon.

Although Elizabeth knows what and why she is doing what she does (that is breaking Darcy's heart for a second time) she can see no way clear and knowing the effects her family's misfortune would have on his family she acts as she sees she must. She does not share with him as she did in canon. And then the Bennet family disappears. They no longer live at Longbourn. In their move Elizabeth thinks she will never see him again but life has a way of confusing us, directing us, with no rhyme or reason.

Yes, months later they come into each other's company again. Elizabeth refuses to do anything more than socially necessary while in his presence and that of others. Thus when they meet (unplanned) at night he reproaches her with "...not so much as a kind word from you"...there was a lump in my throat.

This is a book I would say you MUST read.

I have to add that the journey taken by ODC in this variation is both metaphoric and physical...paths coming together and dividing and then again meeting after the rocky road for both. It continues to be difficult but at that point their paths have merged.

2-9-2020: I am now listening to this on Audible. 2-20-20: I finished listening to this again. Such a gripping story! ...more

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Sep 17, 2019 Ceri rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019-austenesque, austen-inspired, austenesque-no-sex-scenes

This review was first published on Babblings of a Bookworm: https://babblingsofabookworm.blogspot...

This Pride & Prejudice variation opens with Darcy on his way home to Pemberley from his Uncle's house. Instead of travelling to Derbyshire with Bingley, as in canon, he is alone. Not wishing to stay at a particular inn he decides to press on for home but meets with an accident when he parts company with his borrowed steed. Luckily the horse returns to the inn, where some travellers from down south ...more

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Nov 18, 2019 Anna added it

Shelves: austenesque

Joana Starnes' newest Pride and Prejudice variation, The Journey Home to Pemberley, was a treat from start to finish. She imagines what might have happened had Elizabeth reunited with Mr. Darcy following his disastrous Hunsford proposal while touring the Lake Country with her aunt and uncle Gardiner. Darcy is taking the long, scenic route to Pemberley as he tries to come to terms with Elizabeth's refusal, and when he is injured during a storm, he ends up at the inn where Elizabeth and the Gardin Joana Starnes' newest Pride and Prejudice variation, The Journey Home to Pemberley, was a treat from start to finish. She imagines what might have happened had Elizabeth reunited with Mr. Darcy following his disastrous Hunsford proposal while touring the Lake Country with her aunt and uncle Gardiner. Darcy is taking the long, scenic route to Pemberley as he tries to come to terms with Elizabeth's refusal, and when he is injured during a storm, he ends up at the inn where Elizabeth and the Gardiners are taking refuge.

While their initial reunion is a little awkward but sweet and full of hope for the future, I knew it was too soon in the book for that to last. But what happened next gutted me. I hadn't expected THAT, and I hadn't realized I was so wrapped up in their newfound happiness until I had the rug pulled out from under me, much like our dear couple. I felt it to the core, but I've never been disappointed by Starnes before, so I kept reading through their pain and trusted there would be a reward in the end.

The Journey Home to Pemberley was a true page turner, full of romance, angst, and passion and twists and turns that I hadn't anticipated. Starnes has a way of transporting readers into the story, and I truly felt like I was on the journey with Darcy and Elizabeth. Telling the story mainly through Elizabeth's point of view provided some suspense, as I kept wondering what Darcy was thinking and feeling at that moment while I was feeling Elizabeth's pain as she observed him. When they were reunited at the beginning, they both had confronted some hard truths about themselves, but Starnes had many more trials in store for them, and she does a fantastic job of showing how they were changed by their circumstances. The original characters, from Timms and Moll, the innkeeper and his wife, to Bella and Meg, the Monkford sisters, were delightful additions as well.

I've loved all of the books I've read by Starnes so far, and The Journey Home to Pemberley was no exception. I expected to love it like the others, but I didn't expect to FEEL it as much as I did, and that, to me, is the sign of a great book and a great writer. I'm already eagerly anticipating what she has in store for us next!

Review originally posted on Diary of an Eccentric ...more

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