Customer Reviews

Letters from Pemberley: The First Year: A Continuation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I have loved Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice for years. But I have never bother reading any sequel to this book, because in the back of my mind, I know that no one can really write a sequel for this book except Jane Austen herself. However, one day, when surfing through this site for some books, I accidentally came across this book. At first I was just surprised to know that so many Jane Austen fans find this so-called Continuation of Austen's P & P enjoyable. Reading your reivews just tempted me to buy and read this book too. And now, I am done reading this sequel and I must say that, yes, I agree with all of you, I like this book too. The author of this book can really capture some of the writing style, language usage and essence of Jane Austen's. Another good thing about this book is that it really can enhance one's imagination. To be honest, I am sure anyone who truely love Darcy and Lizzy will wonder, or will like to find out more about what their married lives will be like, especially how Lizzy adapted herself to the new society. I am quite sure that fans of Pride and Prejudice will find this book very satisfying. One drawback though, let me warn you beforehand, you will sure want to read some more of their stories after you finished this book, especially after what you found out in the last chapter. Very sweet!

Based on the other reviews I decided to purchase Letters from Pemberley. I actually got chills to discover that there was such a sequel. I could not put this book down once it arrived at my doorstep. Since it is written in the same sytle as Pride and Prejudice, it flows right from the original story. You would not realize much time has lapsed since Jane Austen wrote P & P. I had a lot of fun picking out the other characters from Jane Austen's other works. The name changes won't fool anyone if you are familiar with certain "Personalities" from the other books. At times though I did need to research certain ones just to be sure. I am anxious to read Presumption: An Entertainment by Julia Barrett as well. I always felt Georgiana merited her own story. But, as for Letters from Pemberley, you will fall in love all over again, this book is a must read for anyone who always wanted a continuation of the Darcy's and Bingley's lives.

The above is my only explanation as to why people seem so fond of this book. I was looking for an exciting sequel to P&P (and I imagine if you're reading this, you're probably doing the same ;-). In my quest to read only the best sequels, I read all the amazon customer reviews of all the P&P "sequels" and quickly eliminated anything by Emma Tennant. This book by Ms. Dawkins and Linda Berdoll's The Bar Sinister had the best customer reviews, so I got them both.

I was SOOOO looking forward to this book that when I finally received it, I was pretty disappointed. The story was...nice. There was, unfortunately, no real spunk, no real wit, no real plot. It's very sweet, almost to the point of annoyance, really. The characters don't seem to evolve and while I understand the format of the book (letters from Lizzy to Jane during her first year of marriage to Mr. Darcy) may be somewhat limiting, I felt the characters were portrayed in a one-dimensional and completely predictable light.

More specifically, there were a couple things that pushed this book from being acceptably sweet to annoyingly unrealistic. First, there was absolutely no mention of any conflict between Lizzy and Mr. Darcy...EVER. I find this hard to believe. Of course I expected the Darcys to be happy, but this book made it seem too perfect. Second, Lizzy kept referring to her "satirical eye." I may be wrong, but I thought it seemed a little out of character that Lizzy would be saying these things about herself. It seemed like she was praising herself or something, which is weird since so much of her appeal stems from the fact that she is so unassuming in her witty and satirical observations.

I think if you're a purist (which I'm not), you'll enjoy this. Many people seem to think that Ms. Dawkins does a very good job of capturing JA's writing style. For my part, writing style is less important--I prefer sequels where the CHARACTERS, rather than the writing style, stay true to the spirit of the original text. Here, Darcy and Lizzy have very little of the original spunk which made them such a dynamic couple. I actually prefer Linda Berdoll's The Bar Sinister. Although the writing is much less polished in that book than in this, the Darcys are portrayed in that book as fun, passionate, and real people...not perfect as they are here. Be forewarned, however. The Bar Sinister is much more risque than Letters from Pemberley, so purists may be offended (the Darcys actually hav s-e-x [and lots of it] in that book). However, that book, unlike this, also has substantial character development and a real plot. If you're looking for a substantial P&P sequel, you might want to check that out (almost 500 pages). On the other hand, if you have a couple of hours to kill, Letters from Pemberley may be worth your while. It's light and breezy and, if you're not expecting a whole lot, you might actually be pleasantly surprised.

Every time I review a sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, I mention the fact that the first couple of books I read were quite disastrous. I have bought many of these Pride and Prejudice sequels hoping to recapture the magic of the aforementioned novel though I know that any other effort will pale in comparison to the original. So I try to keep an open mind. So far, Pamela Aidan's An Assembly Such as This is the best sequel I've read. Jane Dawkins's Letters to Pemberley is an interesting sequel written in the form of letters from Elizabeth to Jane where she discusses her married life, her days as mistress of Pemberley, and some gossip. Lizzy also shares her experiences with Lady Catherine de Bourgh and her discomfort whenever she's around.

I liked the format and Dawkins uses quite a subtler approach with these characters. This format is especially nice because you feel like you are reading private musings and anecdotes from the beloved heroine and the people in her life. I also liked the fact that the author uses characters from other Austen novels, like Mansfield Park. Having those characters in this book was a real treat. However, even though I liked the format and the novel isn't so bad, there are of course inconsistencies and some inaccuracies in this book. The author tried to stay true to Jane Austen by using some Austen-like prose and language. She did manage to make the novel sound somewhat authentic and I'll give her that much. There are some anachronisms though, describing things that were fashionable during early Georgian era and not Regency, as well as some things that came in a later period. I can't remember the details, but the author got some dates wrong as well. The characters didn't ring true here. Lizzy is way too docile in these letters -- there isn't a trace of her spirit and wit in the writing. I always thought that Lizzy's letters would be full of her insightful musings and witty rejoinder, but none of that is evident here. I also don't understand why there are only Lizzy's letters here. I would have liked to read Jane's replies as well. This was a quick read, but I admit that the book was kind of boring at times. The whole letter writing thing seemed one-dimensional. All in all, this is an okay effort. Dawkins sort of cushions things by saying that she doesn't presume to be Jane Austen and that she doesn't possess a great deal of knowledge on the time period. I appreciate her honesty and that she isn't pretentious, which is probably why I enjoyed this book more than the other Pride and Prejudice continuation train wrecks I've read.

I couldn't put this book down. I've always longed for more of the P&P characters, and now have finally found them in Letters from Pemberley. In her introduction, Ms. Dawkins professes not to be Jane Austen but she comes very close, in my humble opinion. I've read most of the "sequels" to P&P and this is the closest in characterization and writing that I've seen in a long time. There is perfection here in a mirror-image of Lizzy and Darcy's world and what their first year of marriage would be like. I would recommend Letters to all Austen fans who yearn for more!

This is a book Jane Austen lovers will enjoy. It is in the same style as Pride and Prejudice, partly because the author has lifted phrases and entire sentences from Pride and Prejudice (which she admits in her introduction). Her descriptions of Pemberley and daily life in the early nineteenth century are interesting. The story is told as letters from Lizzy to Jane during her first year of marriage. The diplomacy that a lady would have used in her letters may have contributed to the thinness of the plot and the sketchiness of the characters. I think that given the personalities of Lizzy and Mr. Darcy and their different backgrounds, there should have been more conflicts between them during the first year. In "Letters" Lizzy only talks of her "dear husband" and how wonderful he is. It is a good book to relive the spirit of Pride and Prejudice, but it might have difficulty standing alone as a work of fiction.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Letters from Pemberley, by Jana Dawkins. I have always wanted to read a good continuation to Pride and Prejudice, and I finally did. I made a huge mistake by purchasing Mr. Darcy Take a Wife by Linda Berdoll. I was so disgusted by it I didn't even think about reading any other P&P continuations until recently. The book was recommended to me by Amazon, and I gave it a try.

The language is comparable to that of Austen's book. It is written in the form of letters, which I found interesting and unique. The first book deals with Elizabeth's first year as a mistress of Pemberley, and the second book, which is even better than the first(More Letters from Pemberley), takes place over the course of the next 5 years.

I liked the fact that the author used other Austen characters in her books. I liked that Mr. Darcy did not turn into the crazy sex craving beast as he did in Berdoll's book. His love for Elizabeth was shown in very subtle ways very much like in Pride and Prejudice. I finished both books in less than 2 days. They were fast and enjoyable read.

I recommend both books to all Austen fans, who were unhappily deceived by the would-be-porn novels written by Linda Berdoll and other such so-called authors. Letters from Pemberley will make you fall in love with the chracters all over again.

After reading many of the reviews of this book, I decided to see for myself. I disagree with those people who said it was boring. It is, after all, written solely from Lizzy's perspective so all the thoughts are hers. Jane doesn't write any letters that we can read; we only know she answers Lizzy by Lizzy's subsequent correspondence. If you're looking for passion and the shrillness of Mrs. B, you won't find it here. Lizzy is new to marriage, exploring her household and relationships. The fun part is in learning how Ms. Dawkins integrates characters from other Austen novels into this one. I found it true to Jane Austen and highly enjoyable to read.

One of my all-time favorite books is Pride & Prejudice. While this book often sounds very much like Jane Austen, it's because Dawkins has lifted that author's words and characters from various novels and stitched them together as Lizzy's thoughts -- not all of them in character. There are good moments and it's sometimes fun to try to determine who the characters are, but in the end, it's just playing in Austen's world with midling success. Lizzy's voice is often right, but not always her actions (as related) and thoughts. It's not a bad read, just less than fulfilling.

As a Jane Austen enthusiast I've finally turned to Austen-extension books like this sequel and the new series of Jane Austen-as-sleuth novels. Letters from Pemberly did a good job at maintaining the mood and flow of Ausen's work, but failed to draw me into the story itself. The one-sided letter writing format of the piece put a barrier up that was tough to get past. And, while it was interesting (in an academic sort of way) to figure out which Austen character was being alluded to (characters from other Austen novels are incorporated into this piece using different names)I found it more of a distraction than a benefit to the story.

I don't want to sound completely critical, since I did enjoy this pleasant book...I had just hoped for more. I suppose I hoped for the magic of Austen, which is too tall an order for this author.