The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy: A Novel. I was sent this novel as an early reviewer book several months ago. I didn't open it right away, and now I'm regretting that fact because this book is a fun, fast read that should entertain any fan of Jane Austen's work. The novel tells the story of Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy's perspective through the medium of his private diary. Slater does a good job of inventing Mr. Darcy's motivations and imagining his emotions as he moves through his relationship with Elizabeth. Slater sticks closely enough to Austen's text and characters to make her story believable. The main players - Elizabeth, Jane, Charles, and Mr. Darcy - don't depart suddenly from the personalities assigned to them by Austen. Slater saves her imaginative moments to flesh out the minor characters from Austen's novel - Georgiana Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Ann De Bourgh all receive extra treatment. This book's one failing for me was the prominent role played by the poet, Lord Byron. I did not mind him as a friend of Darcy's but I did mind spending so much time with him (especially during Darcy's visit to his estate). The themes he represented - debauchery, irresponsibility, bachelor life - were important, but I would have preferred Slater to spend less time reconstructing Byron's life in the novel and more time on Darcy himself. Nevertheless, this was a very entertaining partner to Austen's novel, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in hearing the "other side" of the story.

The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy by Maya Slater is supposed to be the long lost diary recording the events of Pride and Prejudice from Fitzwilliam Darcy’s point of view.

Essentially, the novel is just a long series of diary entries recording the life of Mr. Darcy from the first day he meets Elizabeth Bennet to shortly after his second proposal to her. To keep the entries from becoming too mundane, the author adds in a fictionalized friendship between Darcy and Lord Byron and little hints of what might have been going on historically at the time the diary year is supposedly set. She also makes use of some images that are more reminiscent of a Philippa Gregory novel than Jane Austen. Because of the diary form, not much effort has been put into character development.

I read the book in one sitting, and wasn’t very impressed with its depth. We get to see inside the head of Darcy, but the other characters aren’t very well developed, and Elizabeth ends up being a very minor character. The friendship with Lord Byron seemed contrived, and Darcy’s friendship with his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, wasn’t very believable. A little more was made of his friendship with Charles Bingley, but Bingley came across as kind of a namby-pamby and a patsy of Lord Byron’s. The historical details the author adds do not jive with the years in which Pride and Prejudice was originally written (1796-1797). Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice before the start of the Napoleonic Wars, and details from the diary would have set the novel at least ten years after Pride and Prejudice was originally written. There were also hints in the diary about the Luddite Riots (1811-1812), which also did not take place until well after the original dates of Pride and Prejudice. However, if these details weren’t in the diary, the book really wouldn’t have much at all going for it. A slightly better imaginary Darcy diary is Mr. Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange. A much, much better telling of the story from Darcy’s point of view is the trilogy of books by Pamela Aidan (An Assembly Such as This, Duty and Desire, and These Three Remain).

The imaginary diary of Mr. Darcy rests on historical facts thrown in that don’t really support Pride and Prejudice; however, they are what makes this book interesting. Finding out a little bit about Regency England while reading a mildly good book would make this book appealing to readers who like historical romances that are light and airy and don’t require a lot of knowledge about the era described. ( )

The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy is a companion piece to Pride and Prejudice, relating events in the life of Mr. Darcy from just before he meets the Bennets to shortly before he and Elizabeth are wed. It is written in the form of a personal diary, written in the first person. There are, of course, events in his life that have nothing to do with the Bennets and the tale of Pride and Prejudice, but I found them mostly uninteresting. I read The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy in parallel with rereading Pride and Prejudice and the styles are strikingly different. The former is often tedious and rarely funny. The latter is often funny and always engaging. ( )

Don't look at The Private Diary of Mr Darcy as a retelling or reimagining of Pride and Prejudice. It does tell the story from Darcy's point of view, but the whole idea that this "diary" was the basis that Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice around just seemed a little far fetched. Not a bad book, just not something that I was able to really get into. Maybe if I give it another read through someday I'll fell differently about it. ( )

For those of us who love Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, this book is an excellent companion piece to that wonderful novel. This is Pride and Prejudice told entirely from Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy's point of view--written entirely in diary form. I liked this book because it gives more insight in to the character of Darcy...his inner turmoils and doubts. In his diary, he wears his heart on his sleeve and we are shown an even more caring character than we find in Pride and Prejudice and, therefore, a more suitable match for Miss. Elizabeth Bennett. We also are treated to a look at Mr. Darcy's friendship with the illustrious Lord Byron. Darcy's propriety and genuine character contrast nicely with Byron's debauchery, although Darcy is far from being of complete innocence--he is a single man after all. I found the addition of Lord Byron to the story very clever as it gives Mr. Darcy a place, so to speak, in the historical world. Some may be shocked by some of Mr. Darcy's actions in the book, but I find it refreshing as it seems an accurate portrayal of a well-to-do bachelor of the time period. What I do find ironic is the fact that the Bennett sisters are considered "unsuitable" for a high-born marriage because of their lower status in society and yet a wealthy bachelor could visit houses of ill repute, etc. and not fear for a lowering of his reputation. I guess it was certainly a man's world back then! In all, The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy is an excellent read. Ms. Slater has produced a novel that is smart and provocative. Austen enthusiasts should consider reading this, especially after reading the original Pride and Prejudice again. ( )