Hi friends! I am happy to welcome back author Florence Gold to Austenesque Reviews today! Since her last visit, Florence has been hard at work with some new Pride and Prejudice stories! She is stopping by to share some previews and excerpts from her latest releases – Dedicated to Mr Darcy and Elizabeth and Darcy 1900. We hope you enjoy these lovely book previews! 

There is no other possible opening word today but one of hope and encouragement. We will be fine. We will walk again in parks or crowed avenues, visit Milano or New York, be together with family and friends celebrating a new beginning.

It is the second time I have the opportunity to present my novels on Meredith’s blog. Thank you, Meredith, it is a pleasure to be with you and your followers again.

Guided by one of the grand ladies of the Austenesque, Lory Lilian, exactly one year ago my Pride and Prejudice adventure begun. Since then, I posted seven variations and, to my immense satisfaction, I already have loyal readers.

But I tend not to stay in one place; I change jobs and cities, I navigate in virtual and travel in reality, enjoying new commitments and unknown endeavours. I name my restlessness—curiosity and inevitable you could detect it in my writings.

After a series of Pride and Prejudice variations, I decided to mingle Jane Austen’s destiny in my novels and in the end to see why after more than 200 years we still adore her books and transformed P&P fan fiction in a global phenomenon? What is her legacy, not only as a master of the English literature but also as a woman?

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What better exemplification than to imagine a Variation with Elizabeth Bennet becoming…a writer?

Dedicated to Mr Darcy is, first of all, a Variation. Elizabeth and Darcy struggle to be together after the Hunsford episode. Yet, this time their love is projected on Elizabeth’s decision to publish a novel. A steep road in a society dominated by men. What makes this plot special is the insertions of biographical events from Jane Austen’s own struggle towards glory. You will discover the main milestones of her literary destiny with disappointments, failures and in the end, the success.

Elizabeth—like Jane Austen—is encouraged and supported by those who love and admire her; but unlike her creator at the end of my novel Elizabeth finds Darcy and love.

~ Excerpt from Dedicated to Mr Darcy ~

“So, you intend to write in the same style you did the little stories that you have read to us in the last years?”

“Exactly…”

“What Lady Rucas did at a ball where she wanted to present a certain gentleman to her daughters, Charlee and Mira but by mistake, she ‘attacked’ a married man?”

Elizabeth laughed from all her heart happy that her father remembered so well one of her writings, one intended only to amuse her parents and sisters.

“Perhaps,” she answered, but her father’s eyes reflected a small concern he did not want to hide, so she stopped—waiting for his comments.

“My dear, although the story was comic and we all laughed, it is not one you could publish.”

“And why not?” Elizabeth asked with her well-known impertinent voice.

“First of all because at the beginning of your literary career you will be read mostly by people who know you, like Lady Lucas or her daughters Charlotte and Maria.”

But Elizabeth was not easy to convince; she interrupted her father, impatient. “Stop, stop, Papa, dear! Lady Lucas or Maria hardly read a fashion journal, they will never read my book.”

“You do not get my point, my dear. A writer does not base her literary achievements on satirising the people around her—friends and family. To write about what actually happens in Meryton is offensive for the people you know. It is an indiscretion at best, but it could also be regarded as malice and opportunism. You have to use your imagination to create a new universe and not only by changing letters in a name.”

“You are saying I cannot use this life we live to create characters and circumstances?” Elizabeth wondered.

“I am saying that entertaining your family with your writing is one thing and aspiring to become a writer is another.”

“So, I cannot take my inspiration from reality?”

“All I am saying is that you have to respect the people you know by drawing characters that nobody will recognise.”

“In one century no one will know that a certain Lady Lucas really existed…”

“You are not humble at all, my daughter,” Mr Bennet smiled. “You have the audacity to imagine that one century from now people will still read your writings?” He was teasing her, but in fact, he was admiring his Lizzy for her courage and determination.

“Let us think for now about the people of this century. You have to find a way to depict our life without involving the Bennets and the Gardiners, the Lucases or Meryton.”

“And how do you think that could be done?”

It was a difficult question.

***

The second novel I present today answers to a different question: what is Jane Austen legacy to the womankind and how her stories contributed to the woman’s emancipation a century after her death?

Placed during the first world war, Elizabeth and Darcy 1900 is a comprehensive presentation of Jane Austen’s work and life projected on a love story that will keep the reader in a romantic mood from the first page to the last.

Well documented on the WW1 and the nurses’ role during those terrible years, the book is also a social fresco of a time of elegance and chivalry.

This novel has an unusual story itself. When first released ‘E&D 1900’ received more than one favourable reviews. Following the benevolent tone, you would have expected to see a lot of 5 stars. Yet it was not what happened. The book received many 4 stars, the reviewers expressing—almost unanimously—the dissatisfaction regarding the ending. It was too short, too inexpressive, too abrupt…

Following the invitation to present this novel on Meredith’s blog, I have decided to publish a second edition with an ending that—I hope—will satisfy my new readers and incite those who have already read it to discover those final parts written at their inducement.

~ Excerpt from Elizabeth and Darcy 1900 ~

“Women had studied at Oxford since the 1870s. Four women’s colleges had been established at Oxford: Lady Margaret Hall, Somerville, St Hugh’s, and St Hilda’s. Their students were only allowed to attend university lectures and to sit examinations equivalent to those taken by men.

This changed in October 1920 with a new statute. It operated retroactively: women who had previously earned their degrees could return to Oxford, be formally “matriculated” as university members, and go through graduation.

On the day of the graduation, Lady Elizabeth Austen Lancashire joined her husband in the office-room where their story began. He was sipping a coffee and waiting for her. The ceremony was due to start in two hours, but they adored spending as much time as possible together…alone. Young Charles Lancashire was in London with Pippa, his nanny and Morrison.

“I had a housekeeper and a driver…but I do not have them anymore.”

“You still have your wife’s heart, and today is about you and me.”

“What do you think your aunt, Dame Jane Austen, would have to say about this day?”

Elizabeth had mused over the same question for some time.

“If you take her work and really study it, word by word, nowhere can you find a glimpse of hope of a woman’s role in society changing.”

Darcy looked at her in wonder.

“Do you hear yourself saying that? Have I addled your brain?” he laughed as he had before, so many times in the past when they worked together.

“Back then I was fighting you, I wanted so much for you to enjoy her work. But we must face the truth. The world is celebrating her literary work per se whilst we, the suffragettes, we worship her, Jane Austen, the woman. For us, it is not about her brilliant work but about the woman who fought for her rights in a man’s world. A woman who had achieved the incredible endeavour of becoming one of the first novelists in English literature at a time when women were housekeepers. She did not write about this fight, but she lived breaking down the barriers.”

“My God, Elizabeth, you are changed.”

She came into his arms.

“I am my love. I do not have all that fury that drove me sometimes in the past because I see the change around us. A century ago, women were locked in their millennial destiny, while now…it is a road we have opened up.”

“What do you think contributed the most to this incredible transformation?”

“The war. The war, with its ugliness and terror, the war that killed mostly men, obliged the world to rely on women for all other activities. We can work in factories and teach, we are doctors and tailors. We ran England while you were away and now it is too late to tell us to go back to the kitchen.”

“But you still want to give me a little girl?” he mumbled as he looked at her.

“Now?” she asked, and he saw in her eyes her sweet surrender.

“Yes, now!”

“Then let’s make a little girl, my Lord, and then let me run for the Commons!”

***

I did not intend to write a series as the first two novels I presented can be read independently. However, I sure hope that my readers will enjoy Elizabeth & Darcy 2000—a work in progress—which will be ready at the end of this year.

It is a natural continuation of Jane Austen’s destiny in the world’s literature and as a preeminent women’s rights effigy.

Elizabeth—200 years after Jane Austen’s death—is the General Manager and the owner of Collister Publishing House, who just took the position after her father’s death. As July 2017 approaches, Collister PH prepares an impressive commemoration that could be crowned by finding the identity of Darcy Merlin, the best-seller writer who remained hidden for a decade.

It is a quest that has a real aim but also a journey into the inner universe of a woman who discovers love and her role in the world still influenced by Jane Austen’s work.

***

My surprise is the new release, Mr Darcy Got Married, that will be published in May.

Angst and sufferance cover Longbourn as, after denying his proposal, Darcy decides to forget Elizabeth and marry a lady from his society.

An impossible situation that could not have a happy ending…yet…

I will not tell you more, but invite you to discover this new book and live near Elizabeth an unusual story.

Thank you all so much for your patience, your interest and your constant support!

They all sound lovely, Florence! Thank you so much for sharing! I love hearing that you gave some thought to Jane Austen’s own life and experiences and wanted to tie that into some of your stories about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy! I wish you all the best with your upcoming projects!

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GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

Florence generously brings with her 2 ebook copies of Dedicated to Mr Darcy   and 2 ebook copies of  Elizabeth and Darcy 1900 for me to give away to 4 lucky readers!!

To enter this giveaway leave a comment, question, or some love for Florence!

• This giveaway is open residents in the US.  Thank you, Florence!
• This giveaway ends April 24th!
• Please enter this contest with just one name and one entry, multiple entries/pseudonyms will be disqualified.