Any Pride & Prejudice Fans??

[HappyRuby]

If you are a Jane Austen fan try Pemberley Remembered by Mary Simonsen. See

http://pemberleyremembered.blogspot.com/

This is a good book - with a lot about World War I & World War II.

Happy Ruby

[I. J. Parker]

Very much a fan of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (recently featured on Masterpiece Theater on PBS -- a fine version with an enchanting Elizabeth and a dark and brooding Darcy), but I dislike intensely copy-cat novels.

[Naomi Hirahara]

I'm with you, I.J. I'm not much of a reader of pastiche, although I have made some exceptions, including Laurie King's series. I'll also pick up the recently published prologue to ANNE OF GREEN GABLES.

And the only thing I've been watching on TV, besides the news, docs, and ELI STONE, has been the Masterpiece Jane Austen series. No one can do brooding better than Colin Firth--aside from my husband, perhaps!

[I. J. Parker]

Oh, lucky you! :)

Laurie King writes very well, but I just don't like Sherlock Holmes in any form. He's such an arrogant bastard.

I feel grumpy about recent mysteries and have gone back to rereading the old ones: Colin Dexter, Van de Wetering, Reginald Hill, etc.
And I have such trouble writing formula that I foresee enormous difficulties in getting anything else published. I'm afraid that's what readers want.

[Bret Wright]

I like Jane Austen. There. I said it. I think that's a little unusual for a guy, but I just think Austen, especially given the time period in which she wrote, is a real gem.

Of course, the fact that I took two Jane Austen classes in college might have something to do with it (Austen on film, and an Austen survey class) . . . it helped that both classes were taught by Dr. Joan Ray, the long-time president of the Jane Austen Society of America.

Anyway, I'm not sure I'd be up for Pemberley Remembered without knowing more. Is it fan fiction, or does it just use the title?

[HappyRuby]

Check out my review - hopefully it will tell you enough to determine if you think you would enjoy Pemberley Remembered.

Happy Ruby

PEMBERLEY REMEMBERED – 5 Paws
Mary Simonsen
TRC Castle Garden Publishing, 2007, 441 pps.
ISBN No. 978-0-9798933-0-8


Growing up in the small mining town of Minooka, Pennsylvania was very depressing unless you found an escape. Maggie Joyce’s escape was first in reading. Jane Austen and Pride & Prejudice represented one of her escapes. By the time she was grown she almost had every passage memorized.

In June 1944, Maggie headed to Washington, D.C. to work in the Treasury Department. This employment eventually led her to work for the Army Exchange Service and a position in Germany. War torn Germany was not the best place to be and Maggie got a transfer to London. From there her life took an interesting turn.

Maggie traveled to visit the estate called Montclair, which is rumored to be the estate called Pemberley in Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. On her first visit to Montclair she met Beth and Jack Cromwell who have ties to Montclair. She learned the love story of Beth and Jack as well as the history behind Montclair and the connections to Pride & Prejudice.

Maggie also met Rob McAllister who flew bombing missions over Germany during World War II. Pemberley Remembered tells the love story of Maggie and Rob as well as that of Beth and Jack Cromwell. Rob and Maggie became engrossed in the stories surrounding Montclair and the background for the acclaimed novel Pride & Prejudice.

Pemberley Remembered gives you inside glimpses in the life of people living in Europe during the time immediately following World War II as well as a glimpse back into the history surrounding World War I.

This book is well written and is a wonderful, informative story. Reading Pemberley Remembered is reading history, romance and even a little mystery all combined in one wonderful book.

[I. J. Parker]

Paws? Dog or cat?

[HappyRuby]

I have a dog and I have a cat but the 5 Paws is because the review was prepared for booksnbytes.com - bnnb uses paws instead of stars.

Happy Ruby

[Mary Simonsen]

I wrote Pemberley Remembered because I have always been interested in World War II. My parents and everyone else from the little coal mining town where they grew up were impacted by the war. My father, mother, and several aunts ended up working in Washington, D.C. during the war. All of my uncles served in one of the services. Pemberley Remembered takes place in postwar London where the main character, Maggie Joyce, meets Rob McAllister, who was a navigator on a B-17 during the war. There is a couple who befriends Maggie, Beth and Jack Crowell, who both served in France during WWI. All of these characters share an interest in Pride & Prejudice, and that is the thread that brings them together. Maggie learns that the characters for Elizabeth and Darcy were real. There are lots of letters written by Elizabeth and Darcy, among others, and a lot of history from that period. You can read parts of PR on Amazon's "Search Inside the Book."