Review by Diane Wilkes

(This edition is a reprint of a previously self-published book of the same title. –Ed.)

Ms. Dawkins compares Letters From Pemberley to “an old-fashioned patchwork quilt, where in place of the scraps of fabric reminding one of the favorite frocks or shirts whence they came, there is a line or a phrase or a sentence from one of Jane Austen’s books or letters stitched alongside the lesser scraps of my own manufacture.” One can deduce two things from this description: Dawkins does not use two words where 22 will suffice and it will be a challenge to discern a plot amongst the scraps.

I can sum up the “story” in a sentence: Lizzy becomes accustomed to her newfound wealth with Darcy’s loving support.

The End.

Now, I will say that Ms. Dawkins writes well and clearly loves the books (as opposed to being a Colin Firth fanauthor). She integrates Austen’s words with great craft and dexterity (I’m continuing the patchwork metaphor here), and I suspect that she respects our beloved Jane so much that she feels introducing a future that Austen does not at least insinuate would be to defile Pride and Prejudice. That’s all well and good, but then don’t write a “continuation.” It’s more akin to an update, an update that contains more padding than any attire Ms. Austen wore (or wrote).

Certain authorial choices exclusive of the missing plot annoyed me. Neither Lizzy nor Jane Austen ever wrote “My heart swelled with pride” for publication, and I’m prouder of them both for it—yet Ms. Dawkins allows Lizzy the cliché-ridden sentiment. Early on, Lizzy alleges that Darcy “takes great delight in pointing out the spot where he once fell in the stream as a boy, or a favorite tree he and Wickham used to climb, or a good spot for nutting.” The Darcy I know would not willingly mention Wickham without good reason, and he certainly wouldn’t take “great delight” in doing so. The idea of it drives me nutting. Later in the book, Elizabeth indicates that she shall “not fear” Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst—that seems a given to me, not something for which she needs to gird her loins.

A memorable (and favorite) phrase in Pride and Prejudice addresses Miss Bingley paying off “every arrear of civility to Elizabeth.” But Dawkins has Jane pen the phrase in regards to herself, and incivility is not the mot juste when describing Miss Bingley’s behavior toward Jane. Repeatedly, Dawkins ascribes to Lizzy the words and style of the narrator of Pride and Prejudice and the two are decidedly different. Lizzy describes Georgiana as being “clearly astonished to hear my lively, sportive manner of talking to her Brother, and to see him as the object of open pleasantry.” Lizzy is lively and sportive, but describing herself thusly is more Lady Catherine than Elizabeth Darcy, née Bennet.

On the plus side, I enjoyed encountering some of Austen’s less familiar phrases when they seamlessly appeared in Letters From Pemberley. And Dawkins peoples her book with renamed characters from other Austen novels—identifying them was somewhat diverting. But frankly, these charms are not diverting enough to consider reading this book time well spent. Either leave Jane’s works alone or write a proper sequel—which means including something resembling a plot.

AustenBlog is giving away a copy of Letters From Pemberley courtesy of Sourcebooks. To enter the drawing, email your name and full snail mail address to editor@austenblog.com by 10 p.m. Eastern time, Monday, August 27, 2007. Do not attempt to enter the drawing by commenting on this post. Failure to follow directions does indeed result in disqualification. Jane would have it no other way.

Alert Janeite Rebecca spotted an article in Playbill about the musical production of Emma that just opened in California, which has some photos of the production.

The composer confessed that he’s not the novel fanatic he appears to be: “I wish I could say I was more literate than I am and that I had a passion for these books when I was in high school or college, but the truth is, I happened upon ‘Jane Eyre’ by chance, read the blurb on the back of the book and thought it might make a good musical. When I actually read the book I realized it was one of the greatest novels of all time. I discovered ‘Emma’ through the movie, which I loved. With that said, I have a great appreciation for both works and think they are brilliantly written. But the fact that they were also both in ‘public domain’ really went a long way in my choosing these projects.”

It’s really refreshing to have someone actually admit it!

Alert Janeite I. Miller sent us this bit of silliness, which amused us not a little.

Look out, Ashton & Demi, you’ve got competition for the title of Coolest Cougar Courtship! Having already conquered the hearts, minds and loins of thousands of sci-fi and soap opera fans, Nathan Fillion, the latest addition to ABC’s Desperate Housewives prime-time sudser, appears to be dipping his toe, among other things, into the literary world with his hot and heavy romance with 19th century novelist, Jane Austen.

Miss Austen, or as she prefers to be known these days, J.Aus. (sounds like “Joss”), may be nearly 200 years older than her new boytoy, but that age difference appears to be no impediment for the happy couple. After all, Fillion’s fans from his One Life to Live days know very well that Nate’s got a taste for mature women. Not to mention the fact that Miss Austen has clearly been spending some time with Ms. Moore’s “personal trainer” (*cough*plastic surgeon*cough*).

“Sounds like Joss,” indeed.

Not that we’re running out of clever title ideas, but as Alert Janeite Lisa, who sent in a couple of these links, noted, some of these are too good to resist. Fortunately, the clever titles also indicate (in most cases) thoughtful reviews of the film.

The Charleston Post and Courier starts the proceedings with “See Jane write, see Jane pine.”

We know so little about the real Jane Austen that it takes a certain amount of cheek to speculate on her romantic entanglements, real or suspected. The same holds for investing her with sensibilities that may or may not have been claimed even by this writer and woman of independent mind.

Upon her death in 1817, at a mere 41 years of age, many of Austen’s letters were destroyed by her sister Cassandra. We are not even entirely sure what she looked like, apart from a sketch made by her sibling. Nor do we know if the one brief encounter she had in her life ever involved more than a few dances at a ball.

What we do know is that Austen bequeathed to the world six of the finest novels in English literature, rich in irony and uncommonly shrewd on the provincial middle-class mores of her time. But author and character are not necessarily the same, however much we might like to believe in autobiographical intent, conscious or otherwise.

Yep.

Richmond’s Style Weekly goes with a classic: Plain Jane.

One of the reasons we still read Austen’s novels is that we can still see ourselves and those around us in the characters. That’s different from trying to cram our age into hers.

Hear, hear!

The Cornell Daily Sun wins the Internets with its title: Becoming Lame, though unfortunately it is the weakest review of the group.

Becoming Jane is the story of how lame Jane Austen was. Or, at least, how lame those involved with producing Becoming Jane were, and how they tried their best to make Jane Austen seem lame as well.

Though it does have a certain style.