“The Houseguest: A Pride and Prejudice Vagary” by Elizabeth Adams

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is my all-time favorite classic. This is the novel I regularly re-read and re-watch its film adaptions, my favorite being the BBC mini-series with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. At some point, I’ve tried reading various books that attempt to come up with continuations to Darcy and Lizzy’s story or re-imagine the same story in a different setting. For example, I recently read (and liked) Pamela Aidan’s Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy which is basically Austen’s novel but from Darcy’s perspective with some additional plot lines added in, especially in book 2. Most other re-tellings I've tried tended to be X-rated versions of the book focused on Darcy/Lizzy sex scenes. So I’ve become very careful when it comes to P&P-inspired fiction.

The Houseguest is a very tasteful and well-written re-telling with no sex scenes or any other kind of material that Austen would never dream of including in her work. It is a Pride and Prejudice reimagining where events do not develop along the same trajectory as in the original novel. Elizabeth Adams basically has Georgiana Darcy enter the stage much earlier in the novel. Georgiana comes to see her brother and the Bingleys while they are staying in Hertfordshire. She quickly becomes good friends with Lizzy Bennet and invites her to stay at their house in London at the same time as Lizzy’s eldest sister Jane is visiting their uncle and aunt in Cheapside.

This turn of events allows for much more interaction between Mr. Darcy and Lizzy. She gradually learns the truth about Wickham and begins to understand Darcy’s true character. Mr. Darcy and Lizzy slowly become friends, and he is able to correct his behavior towards Jane and Bingley and apologize for his arrogant remarks about Lizzy and her family before he ever proposes to her. Granted, this sequence of events is less dramatic than in the original novel.  There is no shock of rejection and gradual mending of a relationship. Some other dramatic events of the original novel never take place in Adams’ version. But for an Austen fan, this is a fun re-imagining and a way to spend more time with beloved characters in a slightly different setting. I enjoyed this book very much and gave it four out of five stars.