From Publishers Weekly
In her second engaging sequel to Pride and Prejudice, Tennant (Pemberley) enmeshes beautiful Elizabeth Bennet Darcy in a nicely snarled web of predicaments. Elizabeth and Darcy, still blissful after 19 wedded years, have a winsome daughter, Miranda, and an unruly son, Edward, rumored to be wenching in London and dicing away his estates. Elizabeth's guilt as a failed mother is compounded when, during a woodland ramble, she lets an admirerer embrace her and upbraids herself as an "unfaithful wife." Elsewhere, her mother, the giddy Mrs. Bennet, causes alarm by traipsing about London with the shady Lady Harcourt. Domestic drama simmers, but even so Elizabeth must hostess a nuptial party for her ex-beau, Col. Fitzwilliam, and the strident young Sophia Farquar, who chatters chiefly of lambing and livestock. When Darcy tries to control the family mess with his usual cold censorious pride, Elizabeth senses her marriage crumbling. No longer able to tolerate so lordly a spouse, she flees her mansion like Jane Eyre running from ruthless Mr. Rochester. (The novel also borrows a note from Middlemarch with its talk of "Reform" and its heroine's concern for the cottagers.) Austen's cast of minor familiars-spiteful friends and kin-gets a delicious comic workout, and Tennant does a creditable imitation of period diction, though her tone is more sly and playful than that of her model, while her descriptions surpass Austen's in visual effects of art, decor and gardens. Austenites-and Tennantites-should love the whole package, including the wrap-up, which leaves enough loose ends to promise further sequels.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
At the end of Pemberley (LJ 11/1/93), Tennant's sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1813), Elizabeth and Darcy are expecting their first child. In this sequel-to-the-sequel, they experience the mixed blessings children can bring. At 17, Miranda is lovely, competent, and her father's pride and joy, but heir-apparent Edward, a student at Eton, has long been a problem. As guests gather for the wedding of close friend Colonel Fitzwilliam, reports come that Edward has fallen under bad influences in London and gambled away part of the family estate. Cold disciplinarian Darcy acts, while compassionate chatelaine Elizabeth is distraught and susceptible to the admiring glances of handsome Mr. Gresham. As in Pemberley, Tennant ties ends together quickly, dangling possibilities for another sequel. A pale version of Austen perhaps, but essential for Pemberley fans and readers of historical romance.
--Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., Va.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
