The Pemberley Chronicles: A Companion Volume to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: Book 1

386 Pages·2008·1.6 MB·English

by  Rebecca Collins

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BOOK 1
The weddings are over,
P "A lovely complementary novel...
Austen would surely give her smile of approval."
the saga begins
P —beverly wong, author of PRIDE& PREJUDICEPRUDENCE
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“A lovely complementary novel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
Austen would surePly give her smile of approval.” b
—Beverly Wong, author of Pride & Prejudice Prudence e
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T e
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he guests (including millions of readers and viewers) wish the
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two happy couples health and happiness. As the music swells e
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and the credits roll, two things are certain: Jane and Bingley will
want for nothing, while Elizabeth and Darcy are to be the happiest couple h
in the world!
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Elizabeth and Darcy’s personal stories of love, marriage, money, and children
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are woven together with the threads of social and political history of England
i The
in the nineteenth century. As changes in industry and agriculture affect the
c Pemberley Chronicles
people of Pemberley and the surrPounding countryside, the Darcys strive to be
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progressive and forward-looking while upholding beloved traditions.
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A Companion Volume to Jane Austen’s
Pride and Prejudice
“Those with a taste for the balance and humour of Austen
will find a worthy companion volume.”
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—Book News
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a Pnovel by
Fiction $14.95 U.S./$17.95 CAN/£7.99 UK s a
Rebecca Ann Collins
ISBN-13:978-1-4022-1153-9
ISBN-10:1-4022-1153-8
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www.sourcebooks.com UPC EA
www.austenfans.com BOOK1
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The
Pemberley Chronicles
A Companion Volume to Jane Austen’s
Pride and Prejudice
DEVISEDANDCOMPILEDBY
Rebecca Ann Collins
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By the Same Author
The Women ofPemberley
Netherfield Park Revisited
The Ladies ofLongbourn
Mr Darcy’s Daughter
My Cousin Caroline
Postscript from Pemberley
Recollections ofRosings
A Woman ofInfluence
The Legacy ofPemberley
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Copyright © 2008 by Rebecca Ann Collins
Cover and internal design © 2008 by Sourcebooks,Inc.
Cover photo © Bridgeman Art Library
Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks,Inc.
All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any elec-
tronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except
in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permis-
sion in writing from its publisher,Sourcebooks,Inc.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously.
Any similarity to real persons,living or dead,is purely coincidental and not intended by
the author.
Published by Sourcebooks Landmark,an imprint of Sourcebooks,Inc.
P.O.Box 4410,Naperville,Illinois 60567-4410
[phone]
FAX:[phone]
www.sourcebooks.com
Originally printed and bound in Australia by The Pink Panther.First published 1997.
Reprinted 1998.Revised and reprinted May 1998.Reprinted 1999 and 2002.Revised
and reprinted 2003.Reprinted 2004 and 2006 by SNAP Printing,Sydney,Australia.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Collins,Rebecca Ann.
The Pemberley Chronicles :A Companion Volume to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice/
Devised and Compiled by Rebecca Ann Collins
p.cm.
ISBN-13:978-1-4022-1556-8
ISBN-10:1-4022-1556-8
1. Bennet,Elizabeth (Fictitious character)—Fiction.2. Darcy,Fitzwilliam (Fictitious
character)—Fiction.3. England—Social life and customs—19th century—Fiction. I.
Austen,Jane,1775–1817.Pride and Prejudice.II.Title.
PR9619.4.C65P46 2008
823'.92--dc22
2007049507
Printed and bound in the United States of America
VP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To the beloved Jane Austen
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An Introduction . . .
A LIFELONG FAN OF JANE Austen, Rebecca Ann Collins first read Pride and
Prejudice at the age of twelve and fell in love with its characters.Since then,she
has gathered a wealth of information about its author and her work,seeking to
inform herself about the life and times of the “Pemberley families.”
Two things set in train the current stage of her splendid obsession: the
BBC’s magnificent production—which brought Jane Austen’s brilliant, witty
story and characters so dramatically alive in a stunning visual context—and the
appearance in bookshops of a rash of sequels.Some of these turned the lives of
the characters into a soap opera in which Elizabeth and Darcy, for whom one
had developed an abiding love and regard,appeared suddenly to behave like fig-
ures out of Dynasty!It was in this context that Miss Collins began work on the
chronicles,placing her favourite characters in their original environment:nine-
teenth century England.
She at no time presumes to imitate the literary style of the original author,
nor does she distort the essential core of main players,who are so well drawn in
the novel,with tortuous twists of character or bizarre behaviour that seem gra-
tuitous and hard to believe.Rebecca Collins is concerned to observe them in the
context of an era of profound economic,political,and social change,perhaps the
most dynamic period of English history,certainly the most interesting.
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Rebecca Ann Collins
She observes them as they make their way through the changing landscape,
with only an occasional push from the chronicler—a change of direction or
emphasis rather than of character. All the main characters essentially remain
recognisably Jane Austen’s,except that they age,mature,mellow,and sometimes
depart the scene.
Children are born and others—both old and young—die,as they did in all
the families that Miss Austen herself knew,personally.Consequences flow from
tragedy and triumph alike.It was ever thus.As the Pemberley families face the
changes that confronted all the people of England,Ms Collins,not content to
hang the bland “happily ever after” tag upon them, observes the impact upon
their lives.How Elizabeth,to whom Pemberley represented elegance and sta-
bility as well as love,copes with personal tragedy is as important as the influ-
ence of the commercial entrepreneurship of Mr Gardiner on the landed gentry
facing rural recession.
Coincidentally, the author’s assumption of the pen name and identity of
Rebecca Collins is a useful device,allowing her the freedom of an internal nar-
rator, working from personal, anecdotal, and documentary sources within the
Pemberley group,without appearing to take undue liberties with their privacy.
The story lines are clearly drawn and the characters observed with affection
and humour,as one would expect from a member of their circle.All those inter-
ested in the story of Pride and Prejudice, its historical and social setting, will
enjoy this companion volume.
If you watched spellbound as millions did as it unfolded on your televi-
sion screen and,seeing the two couples drive away as the closing credits and
that magic music rolled, you wondered where life would have taken them,
then Emily Gardiner’s prologue,which opens the chronicles,will start you on
that journey.
It is for these readers, and not for the J.A. Specialists or the literary
establishment, that Rebecca Ann Collins has compiled The Pemberley
Chronicles. It is to them,as much as to the beloved Miss Austen herself,that
the book is dedicated.
November 1997.
viii
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PROLOGUETO
The Pemberley Chronicles
THE WEDDINGS ARE OVER. There are rose petals everywhere. Jane and
Elizabeth Bennet have been married to Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy on a shining
Autumn day,and everyone is smiling with the joy of sharing in their happiness.
“They looked more beautiful than princesses,” said the little maids, Caroline
and Emily Gardiner,who with Kitty Bennet and Georgiana Darcy had assisted
the brides.
“Could anyone have looked happier than Lizzie?” asked her aunt. “Not
unless you looked across at Jane,who seemed as if she was all lit up like a can-
dle,” said Colonel Fitzwilliam. Both bridegrooms looked extremely well. Mr
Bingley was the favourite,of course,being universally charming.But even those
who had reservations about Mr Darcy,thinking him proud and reserved when
he first came to Netherfield,could not deny how well he looked:tall and very
handsome,his countenance suffused with delight as he and Elizabeth stepped
out into the sunlight.
Sir William Lucas said over and over that we were losing the brightest
jewels in the county and Mr Darcy was a real dark horse,because no one had
guessed he was in love with Lizzie,whereas everyone knew,he said,from the
very first evening they met, that Mr Bingley had lost his heart to Jane. Sir
William even claimed credit for the match, having been the first to call on