Mr. Darcy's Obsession

Mr.Darcy's Obsession by Abigail Reynolds is the sixth book in the series "The Pemberley Variations". Each of these stories starts from a different premise, exploring another path that could have been taken in P&P . "Mr. Darcy's Obsession" follows the following premise: what if Elizabeth Bennet is called home earlier to care for her ailing father and leaves Hunsford before Mr. Darcy's proposal(while he still debates with himself whether he should, could, would propose marriage to her). And what if her father dies, the family has to leave Longbourn because of the entail, Jane sacrifices herself in a marriage with an elderly shopkeeper and Elizabeth comes to London to live in Cheapside with the Gardiner family? The story begins a year later, when Mr.Bingley tells Mr.Darcy how he had met Miss Elizabeth at the Kew Gardens and learned about the fate of his "angel", now married with an older man after her abandonment by the man she had loved, who had left one day and had never returned and how he had realized that his sisters have deceived him and not informed him about Jane's presence in London last winter. Mr.Darcy decides that he would met with Elizabeth just one time, to reassure himself of her well being and maybe discover that her magnetism had faded and that he could now forget her. A Mr.Darcy, who has not run the whole gamut of rejection and the introspection that occurs in the original story as a result of his failed proposal, and who even now is not entirely convinced of the wisdom of marrying her, because now more than before, her status and connections are so much lower. In this turmoil throw Mr.Darcy's family with the jaundiced views of the aristocracy over marriage, wealth, duty, love, honour and relationships in general and their expectations regarding his future wife. Moreover Mr.Bingley, disappointed by the cynical world where Darcy has tried to get him entrance, is bitter and alone and full of regrets because of Jane Bennet( in which abandonment Darcy had played a leading role) ; he decides to give up the notion of becoming a gentleman and retreats to perform his trade in his hometown. Further misfortunes seems to thicken the plot. In this atmosphere of debauchery our heroes are oases of proper behavior that conspires to keep them apart. But Mr. Darcy is a man obsessed and he is drawn continuously to Elizabeth like a moth to the flame. How will they maintain their self respect and their principles and deal at the same time with their mutual attraction is for the readers to discover by reading the book. Comparing this book with the other "Variations" we can say that in this one the heroes are respectable from start to finish, there is no sex before marriage, not even wedding night scenes. Readers used from the other books with liberal descriptions of carnal pleasures, who are expecting the same here will be disappointed. However this should satisfy the Purists.