Hi friends! Today I am thrilled to welcome back author, Nan Harrison, to Austenesque Reviews! 🤗

Nan began this month by celebrating her 3rd Pride and Prejudice variation – Much to be Talked Of. 🎉

I absolutely adored Nan’s No Less Resentment and I’m so excited to read more of her writing! 📖

Nan is here to share an excerpt from Much to be Talked Of – we hope you enjoy! 🙌🏼

~ Book Description ~

He trusted you with his deepest secrets… I believe he still loves you.

Elizabeth Bennet returns home from Kent with a burdened heart following Mr Darcy’s offer of marriage. She finds it hard to put aside the revelations of the gentleman’s letter—a letter that challenges everything she believed about pride, honour, and love. Reeling from the truths it contains, Elizabeth finds solace not in the bustling Bennet household at Longbourn, but in the quiet counsel of her godfather, Mr Goulding—a wise, kind-hearted neighbour whose own past is marked by tragedy and quiet heroism.

As Elizabeth comes to understand the failings of her own judgment, she also begins to see her family through new eyes—and with it, the social dangers they court daily. But Mr Goulding sees something more in Elizabeth: a strength of character and a moral clarity that make her the perfect steward for a surprising legacy.

With her future irrevocably altered by his final bequest, Elizabeth must navigate newfound purpose, lingering regret, and the bittersweet ache of a love that may be lost forever.

~ Excerpt from Much To Be Talked Of ~

Elizabeth left her mother to her musings and hurried up the stairs to her room. She closed the door behind her, throwing herself on her bed. She closed her eyes and tried to slow her breathing, to compose herself. Then, with a deep breath, she opened the letter.

The handwriting was shaky and light, as if he had not had the strength in his hands to hold the pen steady. How it must have tired poor Mr Goulding to write it!

My dear little Goddaughter,

Since you are reading this, I have shuffled off this mortal coil. You will by now be surprised, dare I say shocked, at what I have asked of you. Permit me to explain.

There have been Gouldings at Haye-Park for over three centuries. I, like my ancestors, was raised to love our home, and the town and countryside surrounding it. Our roots here are deep, but our numbers have dwindled over the most recent generations and now the family has played out completely. I had one second cousin once removed with a son who was the next to inherit, but they were both lost to an accident just before Christmastide, you may remember. We searched but were unable to find any more distant relations. The estate has never been entailed, and I can do whatever I see fit to do with it.

So, what does one do? Even if the estate were sold, who would receive the proceeds from the sale?

My esteemed father once told me that we do not own our estates, we merely hold them for future generations. A healthy estate is a benefit to the community that surrounds it. It provides work for the local population; it brings trade to nearby merchants. It supports the parish church and school. My last wish is that Haye-Park, even without a Goulding at its helm, will continue to be a force for good locally.

Before I returned to England, before you even came into the world, the woollen mill that was on the river was closed, and dozens of workers and their families relocated elsewhere. Do you remember when you were a young child, perhaps six or seven years of age, and you were quite downcast about a little playfellow of yours who had to move away so her father could find work? Nora, I think her name was. Her family was one among many others who left our quiet little part of the realm. That shell of a building down the road from the smithy’s was a pottery. Plates, bowls, and cups were made there and shipped all over England and even overseas. When the owner went bankrupt, more workers were forced to go elsewhere to support their families. Meryton also once boasted an iron foundry, a tannery, and a glassmaker, among other small industries.

Neither have our farmers been spared. Crops have been ruined by weather, and prices have increased. Taxes have been raised and raised again to pay for the war against Bonaparte. Industry flourishes in our cities at the expense of rural towns and counties.

I remember Meryton and its surrounds as a thriving community in my youth, and I have realised a wish to use what fortune I have to increase its prosperity and the prosperity of its people.

I have chosen you, Elizabeth, as the person to carry out this scheme of mine, because I believe your intelligence, your consideration for others, and your sense of fairness and justice will serve you well. Your stubbornness will serve you as well; I trust you will prevail. You will not be running the estate; Mr Hargrove does that admirably. Rather, your charge is to create an organisation: a trust, or a charitable society of some sort that will in future manage the income from Haye-Park and my investments and use it carefully to loan or grant monies to persons or entities that plan to live locally and work to benefit the community. You, with the assistance and advice of your uncles Philips and Gardiner, and your father should he wish it, will create a framework for such an organisation, naming a board of trustees and writing by-laws. I place great trust in you, and I know you will not fail me or our community. In this way, my venerable old home will continue as it always has.

Your diligence will not go unrewarded. In loving memory of my wife and children, I bequeath to you, and by extension your family, the dower house at Haye-Park and the property surrounding it consisting of twenty-one acres, and the funds for its maintenance in perpetuity. The house will be readied and remain ready until you, your mother, and your sisters have need of it. I could not leave this earth without ensuring your safety and the safety of your family.

In truth, the house is yours even if you do not choose to create the charity.

I have long been concerned about what might become of you due to the entail. I learnt not to mention the subject to your father many years ago. Yet it saddens me to see your mother so nervous and fearful for herself and her daughters.

I have assisted others of our neighbours in the past, and it brought me joy to do so. I set aside money for Mrs Collins should she ever need it; it is hers, safe from her husband, guarded by Sir William. (This is a great secret, just between you and me. I neither like nor trust Mr Collins.) I have paid for apprenticeships and schooling for others, and loaned money for the purchase of needed farm equipment. This I have chosen as the mission for my beloved home; a gift to our friends and neighbours and a memorial to the Goulding family.

Fare thee well, little Miss Lizzy. I have so enjoyed watching you and your sisters grow up. You wondered recently if you would ever receive an offer of marriage that was not insulting. You will. When your future husband makes his proposal, you will know that he will want you for his wife because he loves you for who you are. You are deserving of that kind of love and regard. Do not lose faith.

Do not mourn for me. I go joyfully, knowing that I have done my best for my friends and neighbours, and that I will be with my darling wife and children again.

Your godfather and oldest friend,

William Goulding

Elizabeth dropped her hands to her lap, still clutching the letter as the tears came. It sometimes seemed as if good people died and bad people lived forever.

There was no question in her mind that she would take this on. She would do her best, work as hard as she could, learn whatever she needed to learn, no matter how long it took, to make Mr Goulding’s wishes come true.

Elizabeth loved her father with all her heart. At his knee, she had developed her love for learning; he had taught her to appreciate literature, history, and science. He had even made the study of mathematics enjoyable. He had given her a love of observing nature and an appreciation of the antics of people. She enjoyed his dry humour and wit, but over the years they had hardened into sarcasm. As she had grown older, she had learnt to avoid sharing her most tender feelings and sentiments with him. He always made sport of them. Could he take nothing seriously?

I love this new relationship and new circumstance for Elizabeth! 😊

Mr. Goulding seems like such a dear, and I love the request he makes of Elizabeth. 🫶🏼

It will be interesting to see her tackle such a project and what type of path it brings her down. 

~~~

GIVEAWAY TIME!

In conjunction with this lovely blog tour, Quills and Quartos will be giving away 3️⃣ ebook copies of Much to be Talked Of to three lucky reader who comments on this post.

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

• This giveaway is open worldwide! Thank you, Quills and Quartos.
• This giveaway will end December 31st.

Much to be Talked Of is available in paperback and ebook!!