Full Description

Mr. Darcy’s Diary

Monday 9th September
"I left London today and met Bingley at Netherfield Park. I had forgotten what good company he is; always ready to be pleased and always cheerful. After my difficult summer, it is good to be with him again. ..."

The only place Darcy could share his innermost feelings was in the private pages of his diary...

Torn between his sense of duty to his family name and his growing passion for Elizabeth Bennet, all he can do is struggle not to fall in love.

Mr. Darcy's Diary presents the story of the unlikely courtship of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy from Darcy's point of view. This graceful imagining and sequel to Price and Prejudice explains Darcy's moodiness and the difficulties of his reluctant relationship as he struggles to avoid falling in love with Miss Bennet. Though seemingly stiff and stubborn at times, Darcy's words prove him also to be quite devoted and endearing - qualities that eventually win over Miss Bennet's heart. This continuation of a classic romantic novel is charming and elegant, much like Darcy himself.

Pride and Prejudice has inspired a large number of modern day sequels, the most successful of which focus on the rich, proud Mr. Darcy.

What readers and reviewers are saying about Mr. Darcy's Diary:

"A delicious treat for all Austen addicts."

"Amanda Grange knows her subject...I ended up reading the entire book in one sitting."

"Brilliant, you could almost hear Darcy's voice...I was so sad when it came to an end. I loved the visions she gave us of their married life."

"Amanda Grange has perfectly captured all of Jane Austen's clever wit and social observations to make Mr. Darcy's Diary a must read for any fan."

"Absolutely fascinating. Amanda Grange seems to have really got under Darcy's skin and retells the story, in diary form, with great feeling and sensitivity." - Historical Novel Society

"Written with charm, elegance and style, Amanda Grange's excellent retelling of Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy's Diary, will make you fall in love with Fitzwilliam Darcy once again!" - Single Titles

"Mr. Darcy's Diary is an enjoyable journey into the mind of one of the most popular characters in literary history...a gift to a new generation of Darcy fans and a treat for existing fans as well." - Austenblog

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Excerpt

Excerpt

Monday 9th September

I left London today and met Bingley at Netherfield Park. I had forgotten what good company he is; always ready to be pleased and always cheerful. After my difficult summer, it is good to be with him again.

‘Darcy! I knew I could rely on you. How was your summer? Not as trying as mine, I’ll wager.’

I said nothing, which he took to be an assent.

‘Caroline has been plaguing me these last three months, but now that I have found an estate I hope she will be satisfied.’

Bingley was, of course, delighted with everything he saw. He said how splendid it was and asked no sensible questions, but instead walked around with his hands behind his back as though he had lived there for the last twenty years. He was pleased with the situation and the principal rooms, and satisfied with what the agent, Mr Morris, said in its praise. He asked nothing about the chimneys, or the game, or the lake, or indeed anything at all.

‘Is it sound?’ I asked Mr Morris.

He assured me it was, but I inspected it carefully all
the same.

‘Will it be easy to find servants in the neighbourhood? My friend will be bringing some of his own, but he will need maids, gardeners and stable-hands from the local
area.’

‘He will not find any difficulty in procuring them from Meryton.’

‘What do you think, Darcy?’ asked Bingley, when we had completed our tour.

‘The price is far too high.’

Mr Morris insisted it was fair, but he was soon brought to realize that it was excessive, and a far lower sum was settled on.

‘Upon my honour, Darcy, I would not like to try and stand against you when your mind is made up. Poor Mr Morris might as well have agreed with you straight away, and saved himself the effort of trying to argue with you!’ said Bingley, when he had closed with the agent.

He might laugh, but he will thank me for my care when he is well settled.

‘When do you mean to take possession?’ I asked him.

‘As soon as possible. Before Michaelmas, certainly.’

‘You should send some of your servants down before you, then they can make sure that the house is ready for your arrival.’

‘You think of everything! I will have them here by the end of next week.’

I was glad he had taken my advice. If not, he would have arrived at the same time as his servants, and then wondered why there was no dinner waiting for him.


Tuesday 24th September

‘Darcy, welcome to my estate!’ said Bingley when I joined him at Netherfield Park this afternoon. His sisters, Caroline and Louisa,were with him, as was Louisa’s husband, Mr Hurst. ‘The house, the neighbourhood, everything is exactly as I would wish it to be.’

‘The estate is well enough, but the neighbourhood is small, with very few families,’ I pointed out. ‘I warned you of it at the time.’

‘There are plenty of families,’ he said. ‘Enough for us to dine with, and what more do we want?’

‘Superior company?’ asked Caroline satirically.‘Entertaining conversation?’

‘I am sure we will find plenty of it,’ said Bingley.

‘You should have let me help you choose the house,’ said Caroline.

‘I did not need your help, I had Darcy’s,’ said Bingley.

‘And a good thing, too. I was only saying to Louisa this morning that you could not have found a better one,’ said Caroline, smiling at me.

‘Upon my honour, I can think of no finer country than Hertfordshire,’ said Bingley.

He is delighted with the neighbourhood at the moment, but I think he will find it dull if he settles here for any length of time. It is unlikely, however. He is so capricious he will probably be off again in a month. I said as much to Caroline after dinner.

‘Very likely,’ she said.‘Until then,we must be thankful we have each other’s company.’


Wednesday 25th September

This has been our first full day at Netherfield Park. Caroline has managed things well, and she was particularly pleased when I commented that no one would guess it was a rented house. She has had some trouble with the servants hired from the surrounding neighbourhood, but it is to her credit that the household is running smoothly.

Thursday 26th September
The neighbourhood visits have begun. It is a bore, but it was only to be expected. Sir William and Lady Lucas called this morning. Bingley thought them very civil, on account of Sir William bowing every two minutes and mentioning that he had been presented at St James’s. Caroline suspected that their haste in calling marked them out as the parents of an elderly, unattractive spinster whom they wished to see married, and she told Bingley so as soon as they had departed.

‘Depend upon it, they have a daughter nearing thirty and intend to pass her off as one-and-twenty!’ she warned him.

Bingley laughed.

‘I am sure they do not have a daughter at all, and if they do, I am sure she is positively charming!’

‘Caroline is right,’ said Louisa.‘One of the housemaids told me the Lucases have a daughter named Charlotte. Charlotte is unmarried, and is seven-and-twenty.’

‘That does not stop her being charming. I am sure she is a delightful young lady,’ protested Bingley.

‘And I am sure she is a homely body who is always helping her mother about the pies,’ said Caroline in a droll voice.

‘Well, I think it was very good of the Lucases to call, and even better of them to invite us to the Meryton assembly,’ said Bingley stoutly.

‘The Meryton assembly! God save me from country assemblies!’ I remarked.

‘You have been spoilt by superior company,’ said Caroline.

‘I have indeed.The London assemblies are full of the most elegant people in the country.’

For some reason she did not smile at this remark. I cannot think why. She smiles at everything else I say, and she must surely have been thinking of my London acquaintance, for whom else could she have meant?

Sir William and Lady Lucas were not our only callers today.They were followed by a Mr Bennet. He seems to be a gentlemanlike man.

‘He has five daughters,’ said Caroline, when he had gone.

‘Pretty girls,’ said Mr Hurst, rousing himself from his stupor.‘Saw ’em in Meryton. Handsome, the lot of ’em.’

‘There you are!’ said Bingley. ‘I knew I had chosen well in settling at Netherfield. There will be plenty of pretty girls to dance with.’

‘I know what you are thinking,’ Caroline remarked, on seeing my expression.‘You are thinking it would be a bore to be forced to stand up with a country wench. But you need not do so. Charles will make a spectacle of himself, no doubt, but you need not. No one will expect you to dance.’

‘I hope not,’ I said.‘The idea of standing up with people I do not know is insupportable to me.’

Bingley laughed.

‘Come now, Darcy, this is not like you.You are not usually so stiff-necked. It is the weather.Only let the rain stop and you will be as eager to dance as I am.’ Bingley is an optimist.

Reviews

Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Joining a growing field of Austeniana – and, particularly, Darcyiana-Grange retells Austen’s Pride & Prejudice from Fitzwillam Darcy’s point of view. Her device for doing so is an imagined diary of clever sort: Grange reproduces, word for word and comma for comma, conversations from the original novel, but shifts the perspective to reported speech in Darcy’s first-person, with his commentary on the encounters. Between the reconstituted passages, the reader is treated to Darcy’s ongoing reflection on Hertfordshire society, his family obligation, his sister and, most crucially, Elizabeth Bennet and her family. There are also wholly invented conversation, most engagingly between Bingley and Darcy as they try to resist the pull of Netherfield Hall. On the whole, however, the diary is awkward in tone and lacks the polish and poise of Austen’s creation (which some of the sequels have managed to approximate). There’s a decidedly introspective quality to the observations not befitting the very unmodern, unintrospective nobleman. It simply doesn’t sound like Darcy. (May)

susandhigginbotham.blogspot.com Susan Higginbotham
As is proper, Grange doesn’t attempt the impossible task of competing with the Divine Jane, but tells Darcy’s story in her own style, with charm and a gentle wit. While her characters are true to Austen’s creations, a couple of surprises lurk, only adding to the reader’s pleasure. . . Fortunately, there are plenty of entirely fresh scenes, such as the ones where Mrs. Bennet decides to serve Darcy sauces and where Darcy tries to make small talk with a dimwitted heiress, in which Grange’s own humor and warmth shine, making this an amusing and diverting read for Austen fans.
•Susan Higginbotham, author of The Traitor’s Wife: A Nove of the Reign of Edward II

Historical-Fiction.net
I do not profess to be an avid Jane Austen fan, though I understand the appeal. The gentleman-like manner of the male characters is non-existant in the modern world, and such a romantic ideal is appealing. I do enjoy a retelling (as recently with Before Midnight) through the perspective of a new or redesigned character. It is essential for characters to show how events alter their outlooks and emotions, and Amanda Grange does so flawlessly with her version of Mr. Darcy. His very thinking aligns perfectly with the original story and the extra peek of the married couple’s new life is delightful. I devoured this book much more greedily than Pride and Prejudice itself.

Kailana’s Written World (myreadingbooks.blogspt.com)
Scenes only hinted at in the original are here recorded in detail and brought to life as Darcy writes of his horror at discovering his sister’s plans to elope with George Wickham, his efforts to separate Charles Bingley from Miss Jane Bennet and his disgust at having to arrange a marriage between George Wickham and Miss Lydia Bennet. But, most satisfying of all, he discloses his feelings for Elizabeth. Darcy’s Diary records the full story of their courtship, from initial hostility to their eventual love, before revealing a tantalizing glimpse of their early married life. . . All your favourites are here, you just see a different side of them.

hopeistheword.wordpress.com
I love this book. It really served to endear Mr. Darcy to me even further. Of course, after watching this movie, I already love him. Although this book can in no way compare to reading Elizabeth Bennet’s wit and interior conversations first hand (and that is certainly not the author’s intention), I appreciate how Mr. Darcy’s side of the story is very straightforward in Mr. Darcy’s Diary. It actually clarifies many things for me. Several places in the book paint such a picture of what it feels like to truly be in love for the first time that I found myself recalling how I fell in love with my own sweet husband. I suppose that since I already knew the story of Darcy and Elizabeth, I could focus on more of the nuances and little details. I really like that the author takes the reader just a little way into the married life of Mr. and Mrs. Darcy, as well. It makes me want to watch the movie again right now. In fact, I might just do that.

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Specs / Support

Trade Paper Specfications

• Length: 7.75 in
• Width: 5.75 in
• Height: 5.75 in
• Weight: 5.75 oz
• Page Count: 320 pages