The Ballad of Gregoire Darcy: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continues [Paperback]

This book was wonderful. Some parts of Grégoire's story were almost painful to read, they were so tragic. He was such an innocent at the beginning, and somehow, through all of his trials and tribulations, he retained that innocence. Despite being wounded and betrayed by those he loved most, his faith stayed strong. (Though he did engage in a couple of spectacular instances of sin.)

I loved the secondary characters in this book, particularly the children. Geoffrey Darcy, George Wickham, and Georgiana Bingley are now young teenagers, about to make their mark on the world. Georgiana has wonderful potential. I loved reading about mild-mannered Jane and Charles being bossed around by their stubborn daughter. I hope that she gets a novel of her own one day.

I enjoyed the Irish accents in the latter half of the book. I had fun trying to decipher the precise meanings, and I still have not figured them all out. What exactly does "fierce quare" mean? Eventually, I googled it to make sure my guess was right. (I was pretty close, it means "extremely strange.")

Elizabeth was witty, Darcy was perfect, Jane was sweet, Bingley was naive, Monkey was....wait, did I just say "Monkey"? Yes, a monkey has descended upon the hallowed halls of Pemberley, and Charles Bingley may never be forgiven. And, to top off a lovely novel, what would a Marsha Altman book be without Darcy rushing to the rescue of at least one of his many relatives?

This is a magnificent addition to my favorite Pride and Prejudice sequel series, and I would recommend it to all lovers of Jane Austen and regency romance.

In my complete blog post, I reviewed Ms. Altman's entire series to date (the full review can be found at [...] if you are interested). Here is an excerpt relevent to this volume:

Grègoire begins this story happily as a Benedictine monk in Spain and he ends it by getting married to an Irish widow. How he gets there is title storyline of the book, but we are also given a glimpse at the courtship of Mary Bennet, an explanation of the Darcy's extreme dislike of society and Caroline's husband gives her the best gift ever--the title of Lady. I don't want to give away too much, but I can say it will be more than worth your time to read this book and find out answers to questions such as: Why on earth would Bingley put his head in the mouth of a tiger? And how long would he last in a fight with a martial arts expert. Who was the original heir to Pemberly if it wasn't Darcy's father? Will Mrs. Bennet ever marry off the last of her daughters?

As you might notice, Ms. Altman has added quite a few original characters to this series of books. From the spouses and children of Austen's characters to friends and family that have been created specifically for these stories, Ms. Altman characters are, in my opinion the primary reason for reading this series. I'll admit, I first read this as a series of fanfictions so I have some idea of where this storyline is going and although this may surprise some of you, in the end I found myself more attached to some of the new characters introduced here than I am to Austen's original cast. Future storylines continue to touch on the lives of our favorite couples, Darcy and Elizabeth and Jane and Bingley, but through the lives of their children. Expect even more adventure, romance, misunderstandings (they are Darcy and Elizabeth's kids after all) and swords to come in the rest of the series. I don't know about you, but I can't wait :)

I love Marsha Altman's take on the Darcy clan. Not only has she successfully "what if'ed" the original characters she has added new and exciting charaters.
I loved book 4 of this series, it was well written and imaginative. If you love P&P fanfiction you will love Marsha's entire series. I dont want to give away any plot lines in my review, suffice it to say I read book 4 in 2 sit downs and am looking forward to book 5 hopefully soon.
Great job!