Rueben's Ramblings

Here is the next list of modern-day writers who, in their own way, have paid homage to Jane Austen’s legendary stories. Each of these authors have written three books either inspired by Austen’s characters or based on the author herself.

They appear in alphabetical order:

The Cumberland Plateau by M. K. Baxley

M. K. BAXLEY
“The Cumberland Plateau: A Pride and Prejudice Modern Sequel”
Released on July 25, 2009

What if Mr. Bennet had an older brother? And what if that brother had given up his birthright in order to marry the woman he loved? How would that one little change affect the future? This book attempts to answer those questions and reunite the American Bennetts with their English cousins. Separated by circumstances beyond their control, two brothers make a promise. John Bennet, the elder brother of Mr. Bennet is forced to leave England, but before he departs, he vows to his brother that their family will someday be united. Two hundred years later, Dr. Fitzwilliam Darcy II, takes a teaching position at a small university. He is not expecting to find a woman who captivates him as the beautiful Elizabeth Bennett does, nor does he have any idea that she is descended from a lost branch of his family. They meet and fall in love, but will his aristocratic family and elite world of privilege accept her? Fitzwilliam’s younger brother, David, is a man scarred by his past. He has no desire for love, marriage, or family life until he meets a beautiful corporate executive from Charleston, South Carolina. She turns his world upside down as she haunts his dreams and waking moments almost from the beginning of their acquaintance. As the brothers face numerous challenges, will they be able to keep the women they love? While her brothers toil with their lives, Georgiana Darcy seeks a love of her own with a USMC captain fighting in Iraq. Will her young Marine come back to her or will he be a hero and lose his life in heroic pursuit? Georgiana Darcy keeps the faith on the home front as she proves to be a young woman of strength and principle.

Dana Darcy by M. K. Baxley

M. K. BAXLEY
“Dana Darcy: A Sequel to the Cumberland Plateau”
Released on July 13, 2010

Dana Darcy is a Southern Gothic tale of Pride and Prejudice set in London, England and Charleston, South Carolina: told in two parts. Part One begins in London where Fitzwilliam Darcy and his wife, the former Elizabeth Bennett of Tennessee, discover a lost and lonely child who bears a strong resemblance to Fitzwilliam’s mother, Anne Darcy. Two months before his marriage in The Cumberland Plateau, David Darcy, in an attempt to forget Cecilia Lawton, the woman who held claim to his heart, had one last encounter with his long-time lover Sandra Hamilton. But when he realized Sandra was in love with him, he broke off their relationship never to return again. Seven years have passed and once again Sandra Hamilton will reenter his life, this time with a little girl. As Sandra lies dying, will David come, and more importantly, will he love and accept the daughter he never knew existed? Part Two of Dana Darcy opens in Charleston, set in the rich culture and tradition of the Gullah People, former slaves of the rice and cotton planters on the Sea Islands and Coastal Plains of South Carolina and Georgia. Against the will of those who tried to conquer them, they have held to their ways, ways little understood and greatly feared by many. An old family curse has haunted the Lawton Family of the Carolina Lowcounry since 1820. With her marriage to David and the subsequent birth of their three sons, Cecilia believes the curse to be broken. But is it really, and more importantly, who placed the curse and why? As the story begins to unravel, an aging Root Doctor, Peter Morgan, finds himself pressed back into service as he tries to learn the truth about the strange happenings within the family he loves and works for. A snake, a cat, and a blood rose, what do they mean?

The Mistress’s Black Veil by M. K. Baxley

M. K. BAXLEY
“The Mistress’s Black Veil: A Pride and Prejudice Vagary”
Released on March 5, 2011

This book explores the road that might have been taken had one small alteration occurred in the original plot. Instead of Lydia Bennet going to Brighton while Lizzy toured the Lakes, what if she had gone instead while Elizabeth visited Charlotte in Kent? Elizabeth was called home immediately after receiving Mr. Darcy’s letter. Her father, while searching for his youngest daughter in London, succumbed to a cold and later died of heart failure. The subsequent events that follow are told in the narrative fashion and begins five years after that fateful day at Hunsford Parsonage when Mr. Darcy proposed to Elizabeth Bennet. The Bennets, now reduced to poverty after the death of Mr. Bennet, are barely surviving, having been thrown into the hedgerow by their cousin, Mr. Collins, at the directive of his noble patroness Lady Catherine de Bourgh. As the situation becomes ever more desperate, Elizabeth makes a difficult and irrevocable choice that will forever change not only her life, but the lives of those she loves as well. In the end will she and Fitzwilliam Darcy find their way to their happily ever after?

Charlotte Collins by Jennifer Becton

JENNIFER BECTON
“Charlotte Collins: A Continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice”
Released on August 25, 2010

When Charlotte Lucas married Mr. Collins, she believed herself to be fortunate indeed. Her nuptials gained her a comfortable home and financial security. If she acquired these things at the expense of true love, it did not matter one whit. To Charlotte, love in marriage was nothing more than a pleasant coincidence. As the years of her marriage dragged by, Charlotte began to question her idea of love as she suffered continual embarrassment at her husband’s simpering and fawning manners. When Mr. Collins dies, finally relieving every one of his tedious conversation, she must work feverishly to secure her income and home. She gives no further thought to the prospect of love until her flighty sister Maria begs her to act as her chaperone in place of their ailing parents. Hoping to prevent Maria from also entering an unhappy union, Charlotte agrees, and they are quickly thrust into a world of country dances, dinner parties, and marriageable gentlemen. But when an unprincipled gentleman compromises Charlotte’s reputation, her romantic thoughts disappear at the prospect of losing her independence. As she struggles to extricate herself from her slander, her situation reveals both the nature of each gentleman and of true love.

Maria Lucas by Jennifer Becton

JENNIFER BECTON
“Maria Lucas: A Short Story in the Personages of Pride & Prejudice”
Released on March 5, 2011

After a great deal of romantic strife, Maria Lucas finds herself married to Mr. Jonas Card in a desperate attempt to extricate herself and her sister Charlotte from a dire financial situation. Mr. Card, however, truly loves Maria and has vowed to woo her. Alas, she views him only in friendly terms. But when it seems that Mr. Card’s feelings have changed, Maria sets out to discover why. And through a series of unexpected events, Mr. Card succeeds in wooing his wife without saying a word.

NOTE: This is a short story follow-up to the first book and was formerly titled Maria’s Romance.

Caroline Bingley by Jennifer Becton

JENNIFER BECTON
“Caroline Bingley: A Continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice”
Released on September 30, 2011

When Charles Bingley and Mr. Darcy made proposals of marriage to the Bennet sisters at the end of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Caroline Bingley was both distressed by her brother’s choice of bride and humiliated by Mr. Darcy’s rejection of her. And she made her objections known. Now banished from her brother’s household, Caroline must return to her mother’s home in the north of England until she can make amends with both Bennet sisters. Desperate though Caroline may be to return to polite company, she absolutely refuses to apologize to Miss Elizabeth Bennet, and instead, she seeks an alternative route back into society in the form of Mr. William Charlton, heir to a barony. Through her connections with Mr. Charlton’s sister Lavinia, Caroline begins to infiltrate the household in the hopes of securing the gentleman and his title for herself. However, she must also contend with her vexing emotions regarding Mr. Patrick Rushton, a once-wealthy landowner, and the meddlesome opinions of Mrs. Rosemary Pickersgill, the companion sent by her brother. When all that Caroline has ever dreamed of attaining—an ancient family name, a title, and a home of her own—is finally within her reach, will she grasp for it even if it means disregarding the workings of her own heart? Or will she cast off the trappings of society and give herself to true love?

To Have His Cake by P.O. Dixon

P. O. DIXON
“To Have His Cake (and Eat It Too): Mr. Darcy’s Take”
Released on October 9, 2010

This tale illustrates Mr. Darcy as a wealthy young man of sense and education, as well as considerable worldly experience–not at all uncommon for Regency era gentlemen of his social standing. He is his own master. He enjoys his lifestyle and has no particular desire to marry at all. That is, until he renews his acquaintance with Miss Elizabeth Bennet–her own circumstances greatly diminished pursuant to the sudden and tragic death of her father. This book tells of Darcy’s journey from a man who, indeed, is proud and haughty, to one who seeks to please a woman worthy of being pleased.

What He Would Not Do by P. O. Dixon

P. O. DIXON
“What He Would Not Do: Mr. Darcy’s Tale Continues”
Released on March 18, 2011

This story focuses upon the Darcys in their first years of marriage, exploring the trials and tribulations of marriage between two decidedly determined individuals during the Regency era and begs the question, “Does anyone really ever change?” Continue on Mr. Darcy’s journey, discovering what he would not do for friendship, for family, for honor, for love.

He Taught Me To Hope by P. O. Dixon

P. O. DIXON
“He Taught Me To Hope: Darcy and the Young Knight’s Quest”
Released on October 1, 2011

The legend of King Arthur meets Jane Austen in this Pride and Prejudice adaptation where the question is asked: What if Elizabeth is promised to another when she meets Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, the one man who captures her heart and imagination like no other? Are the chances of Darcy and Elizabeth finding their happily-ever-after as dire as they seem or is there a measure of hope by way of a strong and lasting connection between them? This book takes you back to a magical time of enchantment and romance, letting readers fall in love with Darcy and Elizabeth once again.

Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo

BETH PATTILLO
“Jane Austen Ruined My Life”
Released on February 3, 2009

Emma Grant has a major beef to settle with her literary heroine, Jane Austen. Austen’s novels taught Emma, a college professor, to believe in happy endings, but her own happy ending goes up in flames when she discovers her husband, Edward, in the arms of her teaching assistant, after which the two have her professionally discredited by claiming she plagiarized a paper. Disillusioned and disgraced, Emma flees the U.S. for her cousin’s house in England after being contacted by Gwendolyn Parrot, an elderly woman claiming to be in possession of a stash of lost Austen letters. Rather than simply handing over the letters, Mrs. Parrot sends Emma on a succession of tasks that gradually reveal a secret about Austen’s life previously unknown to scholars. Along the way, Emma reconnects with Adam, her former best friend whom she fell out of touch with after marrying Edward.

Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Pattillo

BETH PATTILLO
“Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart”
Released on February 1, 2010

The follow up to Jane Austen Ruined My Life finds recently unemployed Claire Prescott heading to England to give a paper for her sister at a Jane Austen seminar. Not an Austen scholar by any means, Claire feels out of place at Oxford among the learned Austenites until she’s approached by elderly Harriet Dalrymple, who claims to be in possession of a partial manuscript of First Impressions, an early version of Pride and Prejudice. When she shows Claire the manuscript bit by bit, Claire is surprised to find a very different love story for Elizabeth Bennet unfolding on the page. Claire is questioning her own relationship with her stable but sports-obsessed boyfriend, Neil, while engaging in a serious flirtation with James, a handsome, inscrutable publisher. When Claire presents her sister’s paper and finds some startling parallels to her own life in it, she realizes she has some serious reevaluating to do.

The Dashwood Sisters Tell All by Beth Pattillo

BETH PATTILLO
“The Dashwood Sisters Tell All”
Released on April 1, 2011

Inspired by Sense and Sensibility, this book follows two modern-day sisters as they set out on a walking tour of Jane Austen’s England and uncover what might actually be Jane’s long-lost diary. Ellen and Mimi Dodge have never been close, but their mother’s dying wish sends them on a walking tour of Hampshire, England, that follows in the footsteps of Jane Austen. Their mother also left them something else: a diary that belonged to Jane’s sister Cassandra. These pages shed light on the secrets that nearly tore the Austen sisters apart and inspired one of the greatest love stories of all time. They also bring Jane to life in a way that no one has ever seen before: through the eyes of her sister. As the Dodge sisters embark on their walking tour, they too are drawn together in ways they never expected. They also discover that Cassandra’s diary holds secrets, and someone doesn’t want Ellen and Mimi to discover the truth. As they stumble on their way toward love, the women learn how Jane and Cassandra Austen inspired the original Marianne and Elinor Dashwood and come to realize that despite their very different personalities, they are a vital part of each other’s happy endings.

More lists coming soon…