Georgiana Darcy's Diary

Let me start off by listing the strikes against this book. It's apparently self-published (not, of course, an automatic guarantee of Bad, but it is a truth universally acknowledged that self-pubs are more prone to editorial quality issues). Its author's name is suspiciously similar to an Austen character; I hereby sincerely apologize if "Anna Elliott" is indeed the author's real name, but if not I do wish she had come up with a different pseudonym. It's frequently (always?) free on Amazon. (There's a "however" coming up – go 'head and get it. I'll wait.) It's a continuation of Pride and Prejudice, which sparks off a list of its own: it's basically fan-fiction (and while yes, there is some very good stuff out there, it cannot be denied show more that most of it is utter dreck); the last "continuation" I read was not very good although it was by an author I know and love; and trying to echo a literary voice like Jane Austen's can only end in tears. Any of these is worrying; all together should be horripilating.

However. (See?)

From the introduction: "I can't begin to match Jane Austen's immortal writing style, and wouldn't even pretend to try. ... I would never aspire to imitate Jane Austen or compare my work to hers. Georgiana Darcy's Diary is meant to be an entertainment, written for those readers who, like me, simply can't get enough of Jane Austen and her world." Well. That's promising. Humility and self-awareness in an author - I'm not Jane Austen and won't pretend I can be - is wonderful. This is, Ms. Elliott states, the reason she chose the format of a journal written by a character Miss Austen did not give much dialogue to: Georgiana Darcy. That's kind of brilliant. There's no going back and comparing a paragraph from the Diary to a paragraph from P&P, no window to complain, really, about much short of massive missteps of language or anachronism.

There were, as I recall, a few scattered typos – and one bit of an editorial whopper: mention of, I believe, a hat "died to match". (There was a terrible accident at the milliner's one day, you see …) Apart from that, the voice was very well done. I don't know how it would stand up to a sterner scrutiny, or to a highly critical eye in terms of historical accuracy, but I was happy to believe it was the narrative voice of not only a very young woman of 1814, but in fact of Georgiana Darcy. (It does help that Georgiana was seen so little in Pride and Prejudice, of course, and that the years between 16 and 19 inevitably change a person.)

Ms. Elliott did something with this book that the late, great Joan Aiken failed at in her sequel to Mansfield Park: getting the original main characters out of the way. In Mansfield Revisited, Fanny and Edmund were whisked away to the Indies very early in the book, never to be heard from more till the very end, thus clearing the path of extraneous already-happy-ever-aftered people so that Fanny's sister Susan could get down to the business of HEA. Here, though, not only did the diary format allow the author to evade the question of whether her third-person narration would live up to Jane Austen's, it also allowed her to fix the point of view solidly behind Georgiana's eyes – Georgiana, who doesn't spend every minute with Lizzie or Darcy.

Actually, she did two things that Joan Aiken did not: she also made me care about the characters on whom she was focusing. Georgiana in The Original is a figure of some pity and sympathy – she went through something terrible with bloody Wickham, and otherwise serves almost entirely as a foil for Darcy, giving him depth, providing an avenue for Lizzie to see the relaxed, affectionate side of him. The sympathy carries over to this Diary, but the sympathy deepens as the girl becomes a well-rounded character in her own right.

Was it perfect? No. But it was much better than I anticipated. It was very good. show less

A freebie for the kindle. Being a big P&P fan, I just couldn't pass this up. I thought it was very nicely done. Unlike other fan-created sequels I have read, this author does not try to imitate Jane Austen's writing style so it wasn't as forced as is so often the case. This story is narrated from the viewpoint of Georgiana, Darcy's sister, and even though I didn't feel all the character developments were realistic I did like to read this version of what happened to her.

A frivolous and easy read but I did enjoy this. Anna Elliott clearly knows her Austen as there are references to Emma and Sense and Sensibility as well as Pride and Prejudice in here. A little cliched and you knew all along what was going to happen, but that didn't stop me from enjoying a little light reading. I'm thinking of getting the next one in the series...

A Reasonable Profile of Georgiana Darcy

As a devotee of Jane Austen, I was, of course, compelled to pick up this novel, if only to spend a few additional hours in the company of one of her characters. But as Author Anna Elliott says herself - this is not another book that tries to mirror the style of Jane Austen. Instead, it contains excerpts from Georgiana's diary, who now at age 18 finds herself in love, but believes that love is unrequited.

I enjoyed being back in the company of Darcy, Elizabeth Bennett Darcy, Lady Catherine, and others from Pride and Prejudice. And the author does a credible job of keeping them all in character. But I still finished the book wishing Jane Austen had written Georgiana's story herself.

A Reasonable Profile of Georgiana Darcy

As a devotee of Jane Austen, I was, of course, compelled to pick up this novel, if only to spend a few additional hours in the company of one of her characters. But as Author Anna Elliott says herself - this is not another book that tries to mirror the style of Jane Austen. Instead, it contains excerpts from Georgiana's diary, who now at age 18 finds herself in love, but believes that love is unrequited.

I enjoyed being back in the company of Darcy, Elizabeth Bennett Darcy, Lady Catherine, and others from Pride and Prejudice. And the author does a credible job of keeping them all in character. But I still finished the book wishing Jane Austen had written Georgiana's story herself.

This book is a well-written extension of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." Told from the viewpoint of Georgiana Darcy, the book gives Georgiana a chance at love and allows the reader to gain some insight into Georgiana's past with George Wickham. The only thing that I felt detracted from the novel was author Anna Elliott's decision to have Georgiana explain EVERYTHING from her role in "Pride and Prejudice." This was wholly unnecessary, as readers of books like this one are already "Pride and Prejudice" fans and already know every detail of what happened in "Pride and Prejudice." There's no need to explain that Wickham was a family friend of the Darcys, that Georgiana almost eloped with Wickham but Fitzwilliam Darcy saved her, etc., show more etc., etc. I skipped all those parts because I already knew it. And since this book is supposed to be Georgiana writing in her diary, it doesn't make sense for her to explain her own past to her diary. Other than this unnecessary stuff, the book was actually quite entertaining - the plot moved right along, and Georgiana is a very likable girl. show less

This is one of the better Austen genre stories in my opinion. Georgiana, Darcy's sister, has grown up. Written in the form of a diary, this book captures a house party at Pemberley arranged by Aunt de Bourgh to find Georgiana a husband.
The author does a good job in keeping the characters and settings true to Austen's vision as well as the era. I thought the ending a bit abrupt, but just discovered there is a sequel, so, huzzah, I'll read on. I was kept guessing at who Georgiana would end up with. I also liked how other characters familiar from the original were incorporated and their stories added to. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how much I enjoyed the sketches in Georgiana's diary.