Darcy’s Passions – Regina Jeffers

Darcy’s Emotional Struggle and Internal Thoughts

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Source: Gift from Mom

Why do we read novels about Fitzwilliam Darcy? Are we trying, like Elizabeth Bennet, to make out the illustration of his character? Or are we suffering from “Darcy Fever,” and the only prescription is more… Darcy?

Perhaps a bit of both. Since the events of Pride and Prejudice are not told through his eyes, Darcy is an enigma, and even though he’s arrogant and haughty, Darcy has some very desirable qualities. Let’s face it… we want him! In Darcy’s Passions, author Regina Jeffers tells the story of Pride and Prejudice through the eyes of Mr. Darcy, focusing on his emotional struggle, internal thoughts, and his roles as brother and master.

In the Preface, Ms. Jeffers explains how when writing this novel, she focused on Darcy’s three passions: Elizabeth, Georgiana, and Pemberley, and how Darcy finds a balance between all three passions. I greatly enjoyed Ms. Jeffers portrayal of Mr. Darcy in his various roles. I especially loved witnessing how and when Darcy fell in love with Elizabeth. Being privy to all his thoughts and emotions, I was able to observe and understand Darcy’s first stirrings of love. Followed by his periods of denial, determination, turmoil, and hope. In addition, I liked how Ms. Jeffers combined Colin Firth’s “haughty reserve” with Matthew McFayden’s “vulnerability” in her Darcy. Her representation of Mr. Darcy was one of my favorite aspects about this novel.

While Ms. Jeffers devotes much page time to fleshing out Darcy’s character and internal musings while in the presence of Elizabeth Bennet, she doesn’t give a lot of detail about the periods where Darcy is away from Elizabeth. Some readers may be disappointed to discover that what Darcy does in between the ball at Netherfield and encountering Elizabeth at Rosings was summarized in several paragraphs. Furthermore, the period between Darcy’s first proposal and return to Pemberley is surprisingly brief. I would have loved for more page time to be devoted to the stretches of time when Darcy was alone and away from Elizabeth.

Not only isDarcy’s Passions a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, but it is a little bit of a sequel too. In her novel, Ms. Jeffers follows Darcy and Elizabeth into their first month or two of marriage. We see Darcy and Elizabeth during their first holiday season at Pemeberley, and witness their blissfully happy union. While I enjoyed spending eighty pages more with Ms. Jeffers’ lovely characters, it felt like this material would have been better suited in a sequel or a novel of its own.

Even though I enjoyed Ms. Jeffers’ representation of the brooding and passionate Fitzwilliam Darcy, this wasn’t my favorite story from his point-of-view. Regardless, I am happy to have read it and am so thankful to Regina Jeffers for penning so many fantastic Austenesque novels! Please keep writing, Ms. Jeffers!

5 comments

I always find myself attracted to the books that are from his POV.

He has lots of responsibilities in his life and since people are expected a lot from him it is not easy sometimes so to see Darcy for a intimate view is fascinating!
And I am not surprised to see that his 3 passions are what they are. But I fear that this book might be
foreseen. I agree if I read it and all the gap of P&P are not filled with his struggles I will be disapointed.
Because we can imagine him talking and being haughty and yet struggling with his feeling during the period.

this is your reader Mariam, I decided to use my blog’s account to comment now 🙂

I just won this one in a giveaway on Austen Authors! As soon as I got it, I checked if you had written a review. 🙂 I’m so glad you loved it! Can’t wait to read about Darcy’s thoughts!!