Overall, I enjoyed “Mr. Darcy’s Daughters” when I was able to let go of my emotional attachment to “Pride and Prejudice.” The story was a fun read and entertaining, but there is the understandable frustration of reading a book inspired by a classic novel. Most frustrating was the handling of Colonial Fitzwilliam and the Gardiners whose presence in the book is so prominent, I felt their characters should have more closely resembled Jane Austen’s creation. Instead, in reading, it felt as though they were invented characters since they bore no likeness to the originals. Because of this, I was glad that Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth had no role in the book except for being mentioned now and then.
I appreciate that Elizabeth Aston stayed true to her own style of writing, however, the lack of formalities between the characters in terms of how they addressed one another or referred to other people really irked me and made the story a bit too modern in my opinion.
It seemed highly unlikely that Darcy and Elizabeth would have raised daughters that were silly and frivolous as the twins and santamonious as Letty. The Darcy sisters completely mimicked the Bennett sisters, except there was no Jane and two Lydias. The plot too was strongly parallel to Pride and Prejudice, which some readers might enjoy and some might not. I both enjoyed it and was irked by it at times.
In true Austen-style, Caroline Bingly, now Lady Warren and Lydia make their appearances and remain true to character, refreshing to read after the treatment of Fitzwilliam and the Gardiners.
All in all, of books inspired by great works of literature, this was a pretty enjoyable, fun read. I would recommend it to people who can make allowances and remember that this was not written by Jane Austen but by someone who admired her enough to provide other Austen fans a version as to what happens twenty years later.
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