When Given Good Principles: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by MJ Stratton. ★★★★☆
George Wickham, old playmate of Fitzwilliam Darcy, becomes dissolute at Cambridge. Drawn into a coterie of young profligate aristocrats, he feels accepted. Until one day, he overhears what they really think of him.
An express arrives, urging his return home as his father is dying.
These two blows have a profound effect, leaving him much more receptive to his father’s final advice.
So George commits to his studies, eventually becoming a law clerk.
Whilst working in a solicitor’s office in Ramsgate, he comes across the young heiress, Georgiana Darcy. When he realises that a fortune hunter is plotting an elopement with Georgiana, he foils the plot with her brother’s assistance.
Unfortunately, this Georgiana is very far from Jane Austen’s innocent, gullible young lady. She may be only fifteen, but words like devious, manipulative and vengeful come to mind.
The presence of a benign, George Wickham in Meryton (Mr Philips’ new clerk) influences both events and behaviour of all the usual characters.
Fitzwilliam Darcy is notorious in Meryton for his haughty and prideful behaviour.
When George’s friendship with Darcy, is restored, he makes it his business to smooth the ruffled feathers of the neighbourhood.
Can he help Darcy to undo his errors with Elizabeth Bennet or will all his efforts be sabotaged by an unexpected adversary?
This is both an unusual and enjoyable variation.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
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