The Pursuit Of Mary Bennet: A Pride & Prejudice Novel (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Pamela Mingle writes with the eloquence and charm that reflects that of Jane Austen's own writing.It has been around three years since the events that took place in Pride & Prejudice. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy have settled with their 2-year old twin girls and Jane and Mr. Bingley are still quite smitten with one another in addition to their 6 month old son David.Life for 21 year old Mary Bennet has been pretty much the same; she still lives at home with her parents and Kitty, who has been increasingly more annoying as of late now that she's head over heels in love with Bingley's close friend, 29 year old Mr. Henry Walsh. Mary has only seen Mr. Walsh once, when she was playing the piano at a party. He stood outside the door, observing her play, which made her irritated and self-conscious. Her first impression of him was that he was handsome yet indifferent, at least to her.The book starts out with Mr. and Mrs. Bennet discussing Kitty's possible engagement to Mr. Walsh, since Kitty has made countless remarks about how Mr. Walsh has directed his attentions to her. Mrs. Bennet also makes an offhand comment about how Mary is not marriage material, and how she's better suited as a governess.Everything changes when the heavily pregnant Lydia Wickham unexpectedly leaves her husband to come back home in Longbourn, claiming that Wickham's adultery led her to flee. In order to prevent any scandals from arising (and to increase Kitty's chances of getting Mr. Walsh to propose), the Bennets send the unmarried sisters Mary and Kitty to stay temporarily with Jane and Bingham at High Tor, where other guests are also currently residing like the mysterious Mr. and Mrs. Ashton and the charming and benevolent Mr. Walsh.As Mary's feelings towards Mr. Walsh develop, she tries to bury them for the happiness and expectations of others (also due to Kitty's jealousy), but most of all because of her fear to love and be loved.This is such a great book! I couldn't put it down - honestly - I read it for a day and a half straight with only breaks inbetween to sleep and go to class. I typically don't like reading books that have romance in them because they're always either too predictable or too cheesy/unrealistic. However, I found myself swooning over the romance in this book 99.99% of the time. It's just soooo cute! While I have been a huge (obsessed) Darcy fan for years now, I can almost say with confidence that I love Mr. Walsh even more than Darcy. Almost. This was quite enjoyable! It wasn't stressful to read because nothing more dire than a botched marriage proposal and Lydia's scandal happens, so it was good before-bed reading. The style and voice and vocabulary were very like Austen's (besides perhaps a few idiomatic phrases that were ahead of their time?), although I appreciated the first-person narration. Nitpick: sometimes when Mary was thinking to herself, it was in italics, and sometimes it wasn't, with no reasoning behind it that I could discern. Otherwise (outside of being a bit predictable), I quite liked this book. There were a few surprises (how Kitty and Felicity end up, not to give too much away), and I always enjoy reading about another time period.
What do You think about The Pursuit Of Mary Bennet: A Pride & Prejudice Novel (2013)?
loved this one. it had the right flavor of pride and prejudice. very good story
—meg
Always thought Mary deserved her own HEA. She gets a lovely one in this book.
—alexis
Enjoyable continuation of Pride and Prejudice. Better written than most.
—SGARCI
Really enjoyed this continuation of pride and prejudice
—kari
