Amanda Grange

In all honesty, I’m not sure why this book was on my TBR. I had though my mother had lent it to me, but she swears she never read it… This has been sitting around waiting for me to read for a long time because of that. I wasn’t sure what to expect from it. In fact, I had read one of Grange’s other books before picking up this one – Mr Darcy, Vampyre – and I hadn’t particularly liked it. I went in to this book a little concerned, especially since it was the same subject matter. show more Thankfully, in this case, it is very clear that Mr. Darcy is not a vampire and is exceedingly wonderful and Mr Darcy-ish, so I needn’t have worried.

This book was good – it was actually one of the best Pride and Prejudice retellings that I’ve yet to read. What made this one so successful was that it didn’t try to distinguish itself from the original too much. The events still happened in the same way as Austen’s original novel, the characters still who we already knew them to be, it wasn’t a modern day retelling… it could actually potentially be seen as more of a companion than a retelling.

Grange’s bio in this book says that she grew up on both Austen and Georgette Heyer, and it was really obvious that she knew the time period. Even though Austen’s book only touch very lightly on the Napoleonic wars, this book takes a better look at it – probably due to the fact that we see letters from people fighting it, and from those who are close with others in the war. There were also other aspects (how the characters acted, what hobbies they had, how they received education, etc) that showed Grange’s real familiarity with the regency time period. The fact that each of the characters acted and thought as they would have back then was definitely a good indication that this book was really well written and planned, and that work definitely paid off.

I really liked how Grange gave a deeper look in to some of the characters that were standing on the sidelines before. Even Caroline Bingley, who is rather dislikable at the best of times, was empathizable in more aspects when reading letters from her. Grange was able to make these secondary and tertiary characters three dimensional, which will definitely make reading the real Pride and Prejudice more interesting. There were also the primary ones, that she not only kept in character, but developed enough to make them her own.

There was one thing that really made this book stand out from the rest. The hilarity that Mary believes that Ann Radcliffe’s novels are works of non-fiction. This led to much much much giggling, and it made her even more silly than she had always been. Gothic novels were quite popular in that time, and many a woman was quite a fan of Ann Radcliffe’s work. So much so that Austen’s Northanger Abbey is a bit of a satire of the gothic genre as a whole.

And now I have to go and watch the 1995 BBC miniseries.

The Bottom Line
Recommended to Austen fans, and this has definitely made me interested in reading more of Grange’s (non-vampire) books. show less

A Darcy Christmas consists of a Christmas themed trio of novellas that are all involving Jane Austin’s characters from Pride and Prejudice. The first story, Mr. Darcy’s Christmas Carol, just about had me tossing the book across the room, written by Carolyn Eberhart, this was a take-off on the Dickens classic. There was nothing clever about this at all, the author seemed to simply insert the names of the main characters from Pride and Prejudice into the story by Dickens which resulted in show more an extremely silly story. This should never have been placed first in the book, as it was very off-putting and almost led me to abandon the read.

The second story was much stronger, entitled The Christmas Present by Amanda Grange, it tells the story of a very pregnant Elizabeth and her husband going to visit Jane and Charles Bingley for Christmas. Jane herself, has just had a baby. Many familiar characters show up in this story, from Elizabeth and Jane’s parents to Lady Catherine DeBourgh. This one, I think came the closest to capturing the essence of a Jane Austen novel.

My personal favorite was the third entry, A Darcy Christmas, although this didn’t seem to capture the voice of Jane Austen as well as the previous one, it was much more Christmas-y and that was the reason I was reading the book in the first place, to get a large helping of Christmas. The Christmas Present was a series of chapters and each chapter dealt with a different Christmas through the years at Pemberley.

I wouldn’t recommend this book to Austen purists, as I don’t believe these stories are strong enough to stand up to any comparison to the original, but if you want a story that captures a little Christmas, at least two of the three work quite well. show less

Thank you, Amanda Grange, for realising the heroic and romantic potential of Colonel Brandon, which is merely suggested in Austen’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’. Also, thank you for the first ‘parallel novel’, or ‘missing scenes’ tribute to a classic story, which not only works, but is beautifully written and well researched.

Forgive my gushing praise of this delightful book, but every word is well deserved!

Though not a fan of Austen’s books, the patient, caring and devoted Colonel show more Brandon instantly won me over, despite the fact that he is absent for a good part of the story! Modern, younger readers of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ - if there are any teenagers who discover Austen for themselves, without having her ‘genius’ thrust upon them at school – will no doubt appreciate Willoughby more and wish that Marianne could have married her first love, but on second thoughts, I think that Austen made the right match for her more passionate heroine in the end. Yes, Willoughby is young and exciting and charming, but he is also shallow and selfish. Colonel Brandon is older – not elderly, at thirty-five, just older than Marianne’s seventeen years – but he is deeper, wiser and his love for Marianne far more constant than the pretty playboy. So what if he will be a father figure as well as a lover to her – a calmer, more mature Marianne will need both companion and suitor to keep her happy.

‘Willoughby was nothing but a tawdry tale bound in gilt and leather, whereas you, dear Colonel, have in you the poetry of Shakespeare, though your cover is not so fine.’

Colonel James Brandon – he doesn’t even merit a first name in Austen’s story! – is worth waiting for. For the many other readers who, like me, fell for him in ‘Sense and Sensibility’, but felt cheated out of his company, ‘Colonel Brandon’s Diary’ is the perfect complement to the original novel. Tempted by the recounting Brandon gives to Elinor of his tragic love affair, and the contrast of a once lively and loving youth with the older, heartbroken man he becomes, Amanda Grange obviously had to bring this ‘good man’ to life. And such is the author’s familiarity and expertise with Austen’s characters, in her dialogue and descriptions, that she can employ them expertly in her own version. Mrs Jennings is just as funny, but Miss Grange also adds her own wit in the form of Brandon’s Wodehousian aunt and Eliza’s landlady (‘And then she said, “Maybe he’s got the smallpox,” but as I said to her, “I hope it’s not the smallpox. Just think of my sheets,” so then she said he probably dropped off his horse, as gentlemen have a habit of doing.’)

Whereas Austen also makes me laugh, however, only Amanda Grange’s take on the story really touched my heart, or made me *sigh* with feeling. Reading this novel, which I absorbed in one day and will no doubt return to soon, I was struck with the realisation that Austen left the best scenes out of her book! Brandon’s angry confrontation with his dissolute brother, his beloved Eliza’s death and the tender love he has for her daughter, only to find that Willoughby has broken her heart and ruined her. The duel they fight, which is passed over in a line in ‘Sense and Sensibility’, is all the more dramatic when experienced from the Colonel’s point of view. His judgement sharpened by concern for Marianne – and perhaps a touch of jealousy – Brandon is able to see through the young pretender from the start: ‘he is all surface, with nothing underneath’. Willoughby’s heartless treatment of both young Eliza and Marianne leaves him seething with rage, and the reader can only sympathise (and wish him good aim!)

The story starts in 1778, with Brandon studying at Oxford and returning to Delaford only to learn that his father has promised Eliza to his elder brother, and opens his diary and his heart to the reader through disappointment, travel abroad, a change of fortune, grief, and hope, to his marriage with Marianne in 1798. Grange captures his voice and inner thoughts so well, growing older and darker with experience, but also makes Marianne an appealing and (more importantly) willing match. The Colonel sees and admires in her the same qualities that make her my favourite Dashwood sister, who is ‘as honest and open as the day’ with her opinion. And whereas Austen’s last word on their union is rather depressing, almost forcing Marianne to marry him for his money, Grange gives Marianne a rousing speech bidding ‘adieu’, once and for all, to Willoughby (‘And for whom did I almost die? A man who did not deserve my love’) and shows her growing love and admiration, long overdue, for Colonel Brandon. The final scenes are so intimate and touching that I have now officially substituted Austen’s hurried summary for Amanda Grange’s thoughtful and lingering courtship:

‘You have loved and suffered, and yet it has not made you bitter, for you have the courage to love again. It is you who are the figure out of romance.’

Colonel Brandon and Marianne have both loved and lost, which is ironic for her – who proclaimed that she did not believe in second attachments – but makes them right for each other. Bringing them together slowly and with patience, instead of pushing them together in the last paragraph, is the difference between a May to December arranged marriage and one of the sweetest literary romances I have ever read. And the difference between Jane Austen and Amanda Grange. show less

I started out loving this book, but by the third story, I was disappointed and stopped reading. The first story was a retelling of A Christmas Carol, starring Darcy in the Scrooge role. I found it funny and charming. The second story had all the main P&P players gathered for Christmas at the Bingley's. It was a sweet story, very much in the style of Jane. The third story was raunchy and ridiculous---a disgrace to Jane Austen and these beloved characters. How disappointing, as I was hoping to show more keep this in my personal collection. show less