Hi friends! I’m so pleased to welcome author Georgina Young-Ellis to Austenesque Reviews for her very first visit! As you may have already seen, Georgina celebrated her newest release – Kiss Me Goodnight, Major Darcy last month. Which sounds like a wonderful WWII Pride and Prejudice retelling! Georgina brings with her an interesting Before & After look at a scene from her story. The “Before” scene ended up becoming a deleted scene and the “After” scene was published in the story.

We hope you enjoy both scenes Georgina is sharing with us today! 🤗

Hi Meredith, thanks so much for hosting me! For this post, I’m contrasting two scenes: one that didn’t make it into the final version of the book, and one that did. The first I wrote as kind of a “fantasy scenario.” Sometimes I write a scene according to how I want it to look before completing all the research. This gives me a sort of template. Then, after doing more research I alter it or pair it down to fit the reality of the historical time period involved. In my fantasy scenario, Lizzy, Jane, and Mary are going to a ball at Buckingham Palace with Major Darcy, Captain Bingley, and Lieutenant Banks. The scene involves fancy dresses, cars, and a London sparkling with lights. The research I later did revealed to me that no one could get fabric to make dresses during the war, there was no gasoline for cars, and the lights of the city were blacked out to prevent air raids.

In the “reality scenario,” the women aren’t even in London at the time the scene is supposed to take place. They are in France, where they’ve been sent to nurse the boys at the front, on their way to a scrapped together dance at the stripped down and nearly deserted palace of Versailles, with nothing but their warm woolen dresses and practical Oxford shoes to wear. The glamour is gone, but the romance remains!

~ “Fantasy scenario” (deleted scene) ~

The day arrived and with it Mary. Lizzy had to admit, her sister looked better than she ever had. She’d lost weight, certainly due to all the work she’d been doing on the farm, and she’d let her hair grow. She’d gotten it styled for the occasion and it actually looked fashionable. She was clearly becoming more a woman of the world.

The girls helped each other with their makeup and to put the finishing touches on their hair (Jane and Lizzy had gotten theirs done that very day), and did each other’s nails.

“Gosh!” said Mary, admiring her hands. “Who would have thought a Land Girl’s hands could look so pretty?”

After the nails had dried, on went the girdles, stockings, strapless brassieres and finally, the gowns. Mary’s was a pale pink brocade, with a snug fitting bodice, three-quarter length sleeves, and a flowing skirt—gloves, shoes, and a cute little clutch to match, which she said Aunt Margaret had helped her choose from the shops in Meryton. She had also brought from home some of Mama’s jewelry, and the girls divided it up according to what looked best with which gown. The pearls were perfect for Jane; a small emerald pendant with matching earrings for Lizzy; and a delicate necklace of cut crystal beads for Mary.

Mary’s date arrived first, and Lizzy and Jane had an opportunity to meet him, and exchange a few words. Lieutenant Banks was not striking, or handsome, but he had a kind face. He was a few inches taller than Mary was in her heels, and was trim and fit looking. Like all officers, he was at his best advantage in his dress uniform—the required attire for the evening of all military personnel. As Mary and Lieutenant Banks drove away, Lizzy and Jane watched through the front window as Major Darcy and Captain Bingley pulled up in a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce.

Lizzy clutched Jane’s arm. “Do you think they hired it?”

“No,” Jane whispered back, “I think it must belong to Major Darcy. You do know he has a house on Grosvenor’s Square, as do the Bingleys. It’s the Darcy home in London.”

Lizzy knew he must be incredibly wealthy, of course. He was the master of Pemberley after all. The truth was, she hadn’t really given it much thought.

The men came to the door and rang the bell. Jane and Lizzy waited in the parlor as Martha answered the door. Moments later, she showed them in. The officers stopped in the doorway as they took in the two women who were to be their dates.

They stood speechless for a moment, until Charles said, “Jane, you are stunning.”

She smiled.

“May I say that?” he went on. “Is it all right if I say that? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine,” she replied, her cheeks pink.

“As are you, Lizzy,” Major Darcy said in nearly a whisper.

“Thank you,” she replied, suddenly feeling shy.

Each gentleman held a box in his hands, and opened them to reveal corsages of white roses. There was an awkward moment of trying to pin them on the women’s dresses, which Martha had to salvage by doing it herself. The house mother had miraculously procured a borrowed fur stole for each of the women, which she helped place over their shoulders. The men then each held out an arm to their dates and escorted them to the car where the chauffer opened the door for them. Lizzy and Darcy took the seat facing backward, Jane and Charles the rear seat, facing forward.

Bashfulness seemed to have overtaken them all, the conversation kept at a minimum as they drove. The sparkling lights of London were enough to keep Lizzy looking out the window for nearly the entire drive. Everything looked festive and alive with celebration on this holiday night. Could this really be the same city that had been pummeled with rockets up until just a month before?

“Reality scenario” (excerpt):

One late January evening, a nurse came running into dinner, her face flushed with excitement. “There’s to be a party.”

Everyone gathered around to hear the details. A party was the last thing any of them had thought about, much less expected. “It’s at Versailles at Supreme Headquarters,” the young nurse exclaimed. “An officer’s party to celebrate the victory in the Ardennes! And we’re invited.”

“Victory?” Jane wanted to know. “What does that mean? Have the Germans been defeated?”

“Not yet, we’re still on the wrong side of the Rhine, but the Bulge has been reduced between Patton and Montgomery. All the volunteer nurses will be going home in a few days! The army regulars have agreed to cover our shifts so we can attend!”

“What is today’s date?” Lizzy asked.

“It’s January 26,” someone replied.

A month—they had been in France for a month. Lizzy could not believe that so much time had passed. Without anything to anchor them to the outside world, days had blurred into weeks. Now, life began to winkle its way into their closed society.

The conversation among the young women buzzed. “What will we wear? How will we get there? Will there be music? Dancing? Food?”

No one knew the answer to some of these questions yet, although the clothing queries fell before some expeditious pre-planning. Lizzy and Jane, like most of the others, had brought one simple, warm dress each besides their nursing uniforms. Soon, the nurses excitedly began to piece together outfits: borrowing here, improvising there. There was little time to prepare because the party would take place the following evening.

The next night, wearing her plain, blue, wool dress under her coat, along with wool stockings and her dependable brown Oxfords that had been tucked away upon her arrival in France, Lizzy joined the other nurses in the transport trucks that would take them to the Palace of Versailles, located, as it turned out, not far from where they had been stationed, about ten miles southwest of Paris. Jane’s dress was equally simple, but Lizzy thought she looked smashing, even with the heavy overcoat she wore, her shining hair hanging loose around her angelic face. Jane wore little makeup with only a hint of lipstick. Neither sister had any idea what to expect. They knew it was a party for the officers and nurses, but nothing else.

The truck pulled up to the palace, the headlights of the truck lighting their way across the black and white marble drive. The great building was dark but for a dim glow shining through the banks of windows lining the main building. The nurses walked through a columned entry and into a grand hall with arched windows and ceilings so high she could not make out what was painted there. Lizzy knew that the treasures of Versailles had been moved and safeguarded before the Nazis took Paris, but gilded ornate moldings remained along the ceilings, down the walls, and over every doorway and window, all visible by the few gas lamps that burned here and there. The floor, though dusty, was of the most intricate wood parquet.

Their soldier opened a set of double doors and the nurses filed inside. The room—likely some sort of receiving chamber—was lit with dozens of oil lanterns and candles, creating a kind of twilit fairy land. The clean and gleaming floors reflected the light. Smells of delicious food issued from a long buffet set up along one wall. A modest military orchestra on a bandstand at one end of the room struck up a waltz. And there, lined up and waiting for them, were the officers, at least a hundred huge grins brightening every face. Two tall figures stood out: Major Darcy and Captain Bingley. Elizabeth gasped.

The pair stepped forward to greet the women. Darcy, resplendently handsome in his uniform, held his hand out to Elizabeth. She accepted and fell into the steps naturally. She was speechless, and so, it seemed, was he. They glided around the floor, silent, gazing into each other’s eyes. Elizabeth was unaware of what was going on around her, only that she was in Darcy’s arms.

I love to learn about a story’s creation and an author’s writing process. It was interesting to compare these two scenes and the different moods they evoked and information they revealed. Thank you so much for sharing, Georgina! I wish you all the best with your release of Kiss Me Goodnight, Major Darcy. 🙌🏼

~~~

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

Meryton Press is generously giving away 2️⃣ ebook copies of Kiss Me Goodnight, Major Darcy in conjunction with Georgina’s visit today!  

 

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

• This giveaway is open worldwide.  Thank you, Meryton Press!
• This giveaway ends July 25th!

Thank you to Janet Taylor, Meryton Press, and Georgina Young-Ellis for making this visit possible!