Product Description

The Women of Pemberley follows the lives of five women, some from the beloved works of Jane Austen, some new from the author s imagination, into a new era of post industrial revolution England, at the start of the Victorian Age. Vast changes are in motion, as they were throughout this dynamic century. The women, like many of Jane Austen s heroines, are strong, intelligent individuals, and the depth and variety of the original characters develop into a series of episodes linked together by their relationship to each other and to Pemberley, which is the heart of their community. The central themes of love, friendship, marriage, and a sense of social obligation remain as do the great political and social issues of the age.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #164159 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
The stories are so well told one would enjoy them even if they were not sequels to any other novel. --Book News

Yet another wonderful work by Ms. Collins --Beverly Wong, author of Pride & Prejudice Prudence

About the Author
Rebecca Ann Collins is the pen name of an Australian who loves Jane Austen s work and has written a thoroughly researched, beautifully written, and extremely successful series following Austen s beloved characters, introducing new ones and bringing them all into a new historical era.

Customer Reviews

The Pemberley Platitudes
Congratulations! I wouldn't have thought it possible to turn Elizabeth into a gently weeping heroine, who's main pasttime consists of giving moonstruck looks to Darcy and Darcy returning them! Evidently I was wrong in assuming that Jane Austen's characters couldn't be misread so far.

Of course, I have to admit to belonging to that despised group of people actually working with and interpreting literature and the implied author makes it more than clear that those are beneath her notice and that she intends simply to continue Austen's delightful work without any thoughts for critics - or indeed, Jane Austen's style of writing, which "She at no time presumes to imitate" (Vii) as indeed, she'd be completely incapable of, writing more in the vein of Danielle Steel or Rosamund Pilcher.

If you are looking for a travesty of the wit and irony we've grown accustomed to associating with Jane Austen and would prefer a wet time with dozens of handkerchiefs necessary to dry the rivers of tears and enjoy a narrator, who is none too sure to which time she's supposed to belong and thus keeps changing without rhyme or reason, I'd advice you to go ahead and bury yourself in this work - preferrably with this work, for then I wouldn't have come across it and attempted to read it earlier on.

In this astonishing sequel female characters are transformed in astoundingly gentle weeping willows, ready to fall into their husbands' arms at the slightest provocation and frequently bereft of speech as far as expressing their love is concerned. One can't help wishing the narrator were as bereft of speech and thus stopped narrating and eulogising this fact, but maybe that is too much to hope for, given that Elizabeth is still decribed as sparkling and witty without giving one single amusing or ironic comment during the first ninety pages - after which I gave up in disgust and utter boredom.

However, Mr Bennet and Mr Darcy have certainly caught her affliction and prove unable to exercise their wit as well. Clearly, that has been drowned by the oceans of tears around them.

Finally, just to mention the language once more: Here at last the narrators proves to be true to herself, for she certainly manages to avoid even resembling Jane Austen's style and thus stays within her capabilities. This assures that the reader never once manages to forget that Collins' text was written in the twenty-first century and completely dispels even the tiniest attempt at losing oneself in the story.

Frankly, it's a waste of paper (if there were minus stars, I'd award them!) and if you'd like to read any sequels, I'd recommend the ironic tones of Julia Barrett's "Presumption" or the fascinating character studies of Elizabeth Newark's "The Darcys Give a Ball".

A lovely sequel to P&P
At 350 pages, The Pemberley Chronicles is one of the longest sequels to Austen's Pride & Prejudice; it's also, in my opinion, one of the best. The book covers a period of about 25 years after the end of P&P; we have births, marraiges, deaths, tears and laughter. Lizzy is obviously at the centre of it all, but there are plently of other P&P characters, and of course some new ones, who appear in this story. It's a story of family lives and of the greater political happenings and social changes in the country.

I don't want to add much more as I don't want to spoil the story. If you are an avid reader of P&P sequels, I'd recommend this one to you though. I'm interested to see what else Ms Collins has in store, as this is only the first sequel of a series!

Vapid but with a few redeeming features
I am a great fan of Jane Austen, and do like to read around her novels. I would not rate this book too highly as the storyline is slight and Elizabeth is not the character we all love, rather a one dimensional character tending to the smug married! The interesting part of the book is in the social history of the times, and the political movements which were beginnning to demand social justice for all.
Wait to read it in your library but not worth buying.