If you are not already aware of it, Mary Lydon Simonsen has just had her novel Searching For Pemberley published by Sourcebooks this past month.  This delightful and friendly author will be appearing here, at Austenesque Reviews, twice this month! Mary’s first appearance is a guest blog where she discusses her portrayal and vision of Pemberley in her novel.  On December 9th, she will be back here again to answer some questions of mine and yours in an interview.  Thank you, Mary, for appearing here on Austenesuqe Reviews!

Thank you, Meredith, for inviting me to be a guest on your blog. You have asked that I write about bringing Pemberley to life.

First, a little background on my novel. Searching for Pemberley is set in post World War II England. It is the story of 22-year old Maggie Joyce, who leaves her coal-mining town in Pennsylvania, to take a job working with the Army Exchange Service in London. Maggie is a fan of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and when she learns that the characters of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet may have been based on real people, she travels to Derbyshire to visit Montclair, a Georgian manor house that might possibly be Austen’s storied Pemberley, and the home of William Lacey and Elizabeth Garrison.

Writing about Pemberley is a great topic for me because I really enjoyed building Fitzwilliam Darcy’s manor house from the ground up. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen gives the impression that the Darcys were among England’s elite families, which meant that it was likely that they had a manor house in the country for quite a while. Since I wanted a Georgian mansion, I had to tear down the original structure (possibly Elizabethan or Jacobean) and replace it with a house that would have been built in the early 18th Century, with additions and alterations made to the house through the Regency Era.

Why did I choose the Georgian and Regency Eras? Anyone who has watched the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice will recall the beautiful drawing room and ballroom of Netherfield Park, an elegant setting for the ladies in their ivory or white Empire dresses and the men, who followed the trend-setting Beau Brummell, dressed in a dark coat, waistcoat, breeches, high boots, and elaborate neckcloth. That was the look I was trying to capture for Searching for Pemberley.

When I began writing my novel, I had a very clear picture of what the manor house would look like. The mansion would have a large portico, yellow-gold stucco, and a view of beautiful gardens and parkland with ancient oaks and chestnut trees shading numerous paths. Since I had an unlimited budget (after all, it wasn’t my money), the ancestors of William Lacey (aka, Mr. Darcy) were able to retain the services of Robert Adam, the most sought-after designer of the Georgian Era. I had seen an example of his work when I had toured Culzean in Ayrshire in Scotland, and I fell in love with his soft colors, neoclassical embellishments, and carvings.

When Maggie crosses the threshold at Montclair (Pemberley), she leaves behind an England, where an austerity program is still in place two years after the war has ended, and enters Austen’s world. She can picture Miss Lacey (Georgiana Darcy) in the drawing room playing a pianoforte with ivory inlay. In the room a fire is blazing in a fireplace which make the classical figures carved into the marble mantle appear to be dancing. While she plays Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, her brother is reading a collection of Walter Scott’s poetry or his novel, Waverly, while drinking fine Madeira in a room filled with finely-carved French furniture.

Once Maggie enters the ballroom, with its soft yellow tones, she can imagine herself standing across from the real Mr. Darcy, William Lacey, dancing an English country dance or quadrille. After some vigorous footwork, Maggie and Mr. Lacey step out onto the terrace that overlooks the gardens, which were laid out by Humphry Repton, the most famous landscape designer of his time.

In Searching for Pemberley, I wanted my readers to be able to picture the elegance, style, and grace of the Georgian/Regency Eras, as well as present a believable setting for William Lacey and Elizabeth Garrison’s courtship. Although Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet is the daughter of a gentleman farmer, there is a wide chasm that must be bridged in order for her to step into Mr. Darcy’s world. But because they are so well suited to each other, Darcy and Elizabeth do come together, and Pemberley becomes her home. Maggie is also looking for her true love, and when she meets a man with connections to the Lacey family, she finds it. And all of this came about because of her visit to a Georgian manor house in Derbyshire on an autumn day in 1947.

Do you have your own image of Pemberley? Is it one of the older styles, such as Tudor, Elizabethan, or Jacobean, or did you start from the ground up, like I did, and your manor house is from the Georgian or Regency Era? I’d like to know.

Mary will be returning to Austensque Reviews on December 9th for an interview.  Mary has agreed to answer any questions my readers may have for her in our interview.  Here is your chance to ask Mary any questions you may have about writing in general, Jane Austen, her novel Searching for Pemberey, or her blog post “Bringing Pemberley to Life.”  If you ask your question in the comment section of this post, Mary will see it and answer it in her interview with me December 9th.  Please don’t hesitate to ask Mary a question, she is wonderfully kind and would be happy to answer your queries!