Pemberley: Or Pride and Prejudice Continued [Hardcover]

Although it's more thoughtfully conceived than Julia Barrett's Presumption (reviewed below), Tennant's ( The Adventures of Robina ) continuation of the Austen classic only faintly rewards the reader. Unlike Barrett, Tennant makes a strong case for her endeavor. A preface demonstrates that Austen continued to think about the heroines of Pride and Prejudice long after the work's completion; from there it's easy to become interested in the dilemma proposed by Tennant: if Darcy and Elizabeth are to live happily ever after, how on earth are they to cope with their respective in-laws? The fatuous Mrs. Bennet, the supremely condescending Lady Catherine de Bourgh, the silly Lydia and her odious husband, Wickham, and the rest of the extended family convene for a Christmas at Pemberley, the Darcy estate. Fidelity to Austen is not strict--e.g., the "real" Jane and Elizabeth are wed on the same day, but Tennant's Elizabeth has been married about a year when Jane gives birth to her second child. Tennant does draw forth some comedy, but it dissipates quickly into soap opera. Elizabeth's high spirits are rendered as foolishness, with the heroine leaping to melodramatic assumptions about Darcy (she believes him in love with a dead mistress who has given birth to Darcy's son). The tone, moreover, is low--what would Austen have said of a Mrs. Bennet who talks of douches at the dinner table, or of a suitor who converses of chamberpots?
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

It is the Christmas season, and Elizabeth Darcy (Elizabeth Bennet of Pride and Prejudice ), now the uneasy mistress of the great estate of Pemberley, anticipates the holidays with growing trepidation. Her foolish widowed mother and two of her sisters, flighty Kitty and pedantic Mary, are soon to descend upon the household. Adding to the guest list, as well as the complications, are her husband's formidable aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and the Wickhams (the cad who eloped with Elizabeth's sister after his unsuccessful attempt to run off with her sister-in-law). Sweet-tempered Jane will also be present, but her imminent confinement is a constant reminder to Elizabeth of her own barrenness. This latest entry in the "Jane wars" has more psychological depth than Julia Barrett's Presumption ( LJ 9/15/93), but it lacks the ironic touch and feel of Austen that is so notable in that book. Devotees will demand both.
- Cynthia Johnson Whealler, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, Mass.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In yet another entry in the Pride and Prejudice sequel skirmishes, Tennant pursues the fates of the Bennetts after Elizabeth's marriage to Mr. Darcy. Mr. Bennett has died, and his widow is aflutter with the possibility of remarriage. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is pining over her infertility, and her sister Jane is expecting her second child any day. As a historical romance, this novel is OK, though it's marred by an abrupt trumped-up ending. As a sequel to Austen's masterpiece, Pemberley is a very distant relation--one even the kindhearted Elizabeth would probably not deign to recognize. A far better sequel attempt was Presumption by Julia Barrett. Denise Perry Donavin

Tennant (The Half-Mother, 1985) enters this fall's ``Jane Wars'' in which sequels to Austen's Pride and Prejudice vie--and is bested by Julia Barrett with her deft and entertaining Presumption (p. 948). It's Christmastime a year after Elizabeth's marriage to Darcy, and her joy in her new state is marred by her failure to conceive a child (a subject treated here with an openness that would horrify Austen--at one point, Elizabeth's mother, Mrs. Bennet, actually recommends, in mixed company, a vinegar douche as an aide to conceiving a boy). Apart from Elizabeth's personal disappointment, the fate of Pemberley is at stake: If a male heir is not born to Fitzwilliam Darcy, the estate will go to the nearest male relative, the obnoxious Thomas Roper. While Elizabeth is stewing about this, chance bits of evidence convince her that her adored husband is keeping a heavy secret from her: that a deceased Frenchwoman who once lived in the village near Pemberley was actually his mistress, and that the six-year-old boy Elizabeth once happened to glimpse in her husband's company is Fitzwilliam Darcy's illegitimate son by this woman. Meanwhile, her anxieties are aggravated by a disastrous snowbound holiday house-party during which her mother behaves with preposterous crudeness; her sister Jane gives birth; Lady Catherine de Bourgh constantly voices her august disapproval; and Darcy frigidly withdraws. By the time the story has lurched to its conclusion (the wrap-up is rushed, suggesting that the writer herself was eager to get it over with), the reader is likely to have lost sympathy with Elizabeth for entertaining such unworthy thoughts about Darcy and for showing so little sign of the intelligence, pluck, and humor for which she has been beloved in the original. Dyspeptic. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.