Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer

Pride and Prejudice is largely told from Elizabeth's point of view. This novel attempts to tell Elizabeth and Darcy's story from Darcy's point of view and, to some extent, succeeds.

A conscious choice, the author, who writes under the pseudonym of Janet Aylmer, repeats much of Austen's original dialogue. While this works to allow the novel to stand on its own, having just finished the original, I found myself skimming over long passages.

To its credit and to my enjoyment, Darcy's Story fleshes out the character of Georgiana, Darcy's sister and allows her to play an integral role in Darcy's growth and ultimately successful courtship of Elizabeth. Aylmer also provides some insight into Darcy's motivations and rationale for the approach he takes when he first asks for Elizabeth's hand.

And yet, the novel is often just presenting Austen's work all over again. This repetition rather weighs down the few original insights which Aylmer offers.