Pride and Proposals

Darcy is on the cusp of asking Elizabeth Bennett to marry him when he finds that his cousin has beaten him to it. Heartbroken, Darcy takes his sister Georgina to America. They return a year later only to find that Darcy’s cousin has died, giving Darcy an opportunity to propose to the woman he loves.  This is an alternative scenario looking into what could have happened if Elizabeth accepted someone else’s proposal.

The author might have been trying to channel Jane Austen, and this would be considered the highest form of compliment. In terms of prose and style, the novel could have been written during Miss Austen’s time. Readers may be divided after reading this book. On the one hand, they may find it interesting to see what, indeed, could have happened if Elizabeth had ended up with someone other than Mr Darcy. On the other, some may think that its lack of originality in terms of characters may be something they might not be interested in. Miss Austen’s way of writing was geared towards the readers of her time, where there was more telling than showing, and more narrative. This is not the landscape today. If the author wanted to follow in Miss Austen’s footsteps and wanted to explore a different scenario within “Pride and Prejudice”, perhaps she could have enlivened the way it was written with more showing and dialogue, taking into account a more discerning kind of reader. This would have then been a more interesting read.

M.P. Ceja