Hi Friends! 

I’m excited to welcome back author Gill Mather to Austenesque Reviews today. 👏🏼

Gill has recently released a Pride and Prejudice sequel about Lydia called – Lydia Wickham’s Northern Peril! 🌟

And it sounds like our girl, Lydia, has gotten into some trouble! Are we surprised…? 😆

Gill is here today to share an excerpt from Lydia Wickham’s Northern Peril. 📖

We hope you enjoy. 🙌🏼

~ From the Author ~

Hello Meredith and all Jane Austen fans. The 5^th novel in my Elizabeth Bennet Series has recently been published. Lydia Wickham’s Northern Peril was inspired by the fact that in eighteenth-century England, there were over 200 hanging offences under a regime christened The Bloody Code. The subtitle, Darcy and Wickham’s Rapprochement?, holds out the possibility that Darcy and Wickham may settle their differences. It remains to be seen whether they will.   

When Jane Bingley receives a letter from York telling her that her sister Lydia is in prison charged with forging the will of Fanny Roberts, a rich society widow, she is devastated. In the eighteenth century, forgery carried the death penalty. Charles Bingley and Mr Davers, Caroline’s new husband, waste no time dashing off to the North of England to save Lydia.

They enlist the assistance of Darcy and Elizabeth who also drop everything and travel overnight to York with all possible speed. The four of them set about making enquiries and chasing down the witnesses to the will. They face a formidable task since Lydia’s accuser, Nicholas Parrish from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is an evil criminal who will stop at nothing to realise his ends and inherit Fanny’s estate himself. His cut-throat methods soon become painfully obvious.

Within a short time George Wickham and other family members also arrive in the social capital of the North. In Chapter 17 which follows, Wickham has just ridden into York.

~ Excerpt from Lydia Wickham’s Northern Peril ~

Chapter 17

Thursday 18^th July 1799

LATE that night, another horseman rode into York and followed much the same course as George Arden, save that he sat a while in the tap room of the George, ordered a pie and took a jug of small ale, his red coat drawing looks from other drinkers and admiring glances from the serving maid.

Though the soldier was good-looking, she commented to a chamber maid after he had departed, he was nought so handsome as the tall young gentleman who had come to the inn earlier. Perhaps ten years younger than the officer, ne’er had she seen such a pretty face atop such broad shoulders and well-muscled legs. And she had been treated to sight of him twice, once alone arriving on horseback and the second time with a gentleman she recognised as Mr Bingley who had stayed at the inn for just over a week.

Indeed, there had been a rare abundance just recently of attractive gentlemen at the inn the serving maid observed to her friend, as Mr Winn saw off the officer. Mr Bingley was one such. More so was his friend, the tall, dark, rather brooding gentleman who had stayed a few days.

The soldier was directed to a house in Skeldergate at which Mr Bingley and his friends were now living. Given the lateness of the hour, there were, said Mr Winn, vacant rooms if the officer wished to rest his bones at the inn tonight. If he took to the streets, the watchmen would be abroad. But he had declined, thanking the manager and paying for his meal.

The stable lad at the Skeldergate house was happy to be woken to take his horse for sixpence. Not so the household servants. He was met with the same suspicion as had been accorded George Arden and a sour face on the part of Mr Hope at he and other servants being roused from their beds at this hour. Yet the butler, having been told that very evening of the possible arrival of Lieutenant Wickham, had little choice but to let him in and send a footman to escort him to the rooms occupied by Mrs Wickham where he would send refreshments. Wickham was surprised that she was not still in the prison but was too tired to make any enquiries save to ask the footman in whispered tones as they ascended the stairs to name those who were here in addition to Mr Bingley. When told, he was impressed and tipped the footman a shilling.

Lydia was inclined to express her own surprise and then her joy at his appearance with loud shrieks, which he managed to quell, mindful of the fact that all these people were here to help her.

“Everyone, your relations and otherwise, have come to assist you, my love. We are reliant on them to help fight the awful charge against you. We must not annoy them by waking them up at half past one o’clock in the morning.”

Lydia was out of bed by this time standing in her night shift.

“But I want to throw open the windows,” she said too loudly, “and shout to the world that my husband is here to save me, as I know you will.”

“Shush, Lydia. We can see the others tomorrow and celebrate as much as you like.”

“I cannot leave these rooms, Wickham. I am obliged to stay here by order of the magistrate Sir Kenneth Gant who released me into the custody of Mr Darcy. Or else I would still be in that stinking hole in the Female Prison. And there are barristers staying in the house. I must not meet them or they will be unable to speak for me at the trial.”

“I see,” he said, thinking that a healthy, active girl not yet eighteen must go slightly mad in these circumstances, being confined to a few rooms, no outlet for her energies. What would Fanny have said?

“Tomorrow,” he continued, “I will see if we can at least walk together in the gardens of this house. But for now, I must get some rest. I have ridden since the sun rose. Come, my love. Let me kiss you. I will do anything to resolve this situation.”

He undressed and wondered as they lay down together how much sleep she would allow him. She was as lively still as a sack of ferrets and he reflected that she did not seem to have grasped the seriousness of her situation. Did she understand what a terrible, fearful punishment potentially awaited her? He didn’t think so. He vowed to himself that he would literally do anything he could to prevent it.

Typical Lydia… lands herself in some serious drama and is completely unbothered by it! 😆

But how refreshing to see Mr. Wickham care about her! 😊

****

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

Gill Mather is generously giving away  3️⃣ ebook copies of Lydia Wickham’s Northern Peril in conjunction with her visit today!  

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

• This giveaway is open worldwide.  Thank you, Gill!
• This giveaway ends August 31st!