The Plight of the Darcy Brothers
This is subtitled “A Tale of the Darcys and the Bingleys,” and this describes it rather well, for this is a chance of catching up on what happened to those families after Pride and Prejudice ended. More accurately, this is a sequel to a sequel following on from Altman’s previous The Darcys and the Bingleys and being their next batch of adventures. This time Elizabeth’s sister Mary has a problem to solve, and this has Darcy and Elizabeth chasing off to the Continent in search of a solution. While in France they make another surprising discovery, and after concluding their business in Rome it is back home again… to more trouble!
If you like action-packed stories you will enjoy this, as so much happens to all the characters. I found it an antidote to lengthy novels where nothing much occurs, but do read Book One first. If you don’t (and I didn’t) you will be a bit mystified about some things while feeling that you have missed out on another good book. There is humor, drama, tragedy and everything in between, and while I might have enjoyed a fuller account of the overseas travel perhaps they are too busy having adventures to spend time describing everything at length. I’ve read various Austen sequels, but this is the best so far. Not to be missed for fans of the original.
