Customer Reviews

Pemberley Remembered

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You pick up Pemberley Remembered at first because you loved Pride and Prejudice and you want to enjoy those characters again. But once you begin to read, you will find yourself drawn into a multi-layered story taking place in three different time periods, with three different couples.

Maggie Joyce, an American living in England after the Second World War, visits Montclair, a mansion rumored to be the inspiration for Pemberley, the home of Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen's famous classic novel. Once there, Maggie learns that the former inhabitants of the mansion, William Lacey and his wife Elizabeth Garrison Lacey, are considered by locals to be the true inspiration for Austen's Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Meaning only to while away an afternoon, Maggie talks to Jack Crowell, one of the local experts on the story, and finds herself caught up in a complex tale of family and love.

In Pemberley Remembered, characters and plotlines are revealed to the reader as a series of interconnected anecdotes and reminiscences. For me, it called to mind the way you learn about your own family history. Ancestors, recent and not-so-recent, are known to you through the stories told by your relatives. This is the way Ms. Simonsen reveals her characters' lives to the reader, one remembrance at a time. As Maggie talks to Jack Crowell, she learns not only about the Garrison-Lacey family, but also his own. The tale of the Crowell family, and its connection to the Laceys, turns out to be just as interesting as the original Jane Austen novel.

Originally, of course, the story begins with the Garrisons and the Laceys, who may or may not be the Bennets and the Darcys. But the reader is quickly caught up in the story of Jack Crowell and his wife Beth, whose own love story spans the First World War. In addition, Maggie's romance with the former navigator of an American bomber runs through the novel like a ribbon. Their developing relationship--and the ways in which their different backgrounds and his experiences in the war may affect their future--provides the backbone of the novel, while the Elizabeth-Darcy and Beth-Jack romances mirror each other in surprising ways.

This is a story of love, of the devastation wrought by two different wars, and of social status and family ties that complicate the lives of three different couples in three different time periods. A thoroughly enjoyable and complex historical romance.

You don't have to be a Jane Austen reader to enjoy this book. I'm a book lover so I am embarrassed to admit I've never read Pride & Prejudice. However when the opportunity arose to read "Pemberly Remembered" I figured popular culture would give me enough back story that I'd get along just fine. Turns out, I was right.

Mary Simonsen spins a spectacular tale in her first published book. An obviously strong writer, she takes an unexpected route. When I heard her book was based on Jane Austen's- I expected a continuation story using classic characters. Instead, in a novel approach Ms. Simonsen uses the classic characters in the background of her own story. I thoroughly enjoyed reading as Maggie Joyce, the main character in the book and a Jane Austen fan, discovered romance and the true story of Pride and Prejudice.

A love story at heart, this book is not a quick read "romance". Ms. Simonsen has crafted an intelligent historical fiction, with accurate portrayals of post WWII London with a truly enjoyable, and believable, plot.

I highly recommend Pemberly Remembered to readers, though for fans of Jane Austen this book is not to be missed.

Pemberly Remembered is a very enjoyable read. Maggie Joyce is a young woman who is adventuresome, willing to travel to post WW11 Europe to live and work and ultimately love, as well as a woman tied to the mores of her time and place. Maggie's love of Jane Austen leads her to discover that Jane Austen based her characters in Pride and Prejudice on actual people with whom she was well acquainted. The discovery is facilitated by the friendship Maggie forms with the direct descendents of one of Pride and Prejudice's main characters. The peeling away of the many layers between Maggie and the story behind and within Pride and Prejudice makes for many hours of delightful and intriguing reading.
Ms. Simonsen writes with a keen understanding of human nature and an in-depth knowledge of the periods in which her story takes place. Her characters are lifelike and I hope that there will be more of Maggie's story in a future novel.

Maggie Joyce, an idealized young American living in post World War II London, is an avid fan of Jane Austen and specifically Pride and Prejudice. Taking advantage of her stay in England, she attempts to learn the true identities on which Jane Austen's characters in P&P were based. There is a story within a story when Maggie falls for another American working in London. Rob McAllister flew B-17 bombers during the war and is carrying some of the scars from that war which affect their relationship.



If you are a devotee of Miss Austen's P&P, then this book is a must read. There is also a lot of research on Regency Era and England immediately after the end of WWII.

I am not a fan of Jane Austen. It's not that I dislike her; I just don't go out of my way to read her works, which means the only Jane Austen books I've read were required reading in high school and college in my distant (very distant) past. However I am a history fanatic and always appreciate good literature. You do not need to be a Jane Austen fanatic to enjoy Pemberley Remembered. You do not necessarily even need to know who Jane Austen is. Mary Simonsen weaves three stories together with masterful artistry, flawless writing, and impeccable historical research. (Yes I spot fact checked the book. Yes I am anally retentive). This is no dry historical tome though; Ms. Simonsen's descriptions, settings, and dialog all bear marks of loving attention resulting, among other things, a multi-dimensional main character you come to care about. This is Ms. Simonsen's first novel, but hopefully will not be her last.

Maggie Joyce, a young woman who longed to escape the dreariness of her hometown of Minooka, Pennsylvania and her abusive family, was finally able to do so in June 1944. She was hired as a clerk typist with the Treasury Department in Washington. That led to work for the Army Exchange Service where she was assigned to Germany for a year after the war ended. She went with the expectation she would be moved to England and a year or so later, she was. It was while in England she met and fell in love with Rob McAllister an emotionally scarred man who crewed as a navigator on bombers that flew missions over Germany during the war.

She met him during the course of her travels while she began to contemplate the idea that a certain estate known as Montclair could have been the setting for Pemberley in Jane Austin's novel "Pride and Prejudice." Not only that but former residents of the estate, William Lacey and Elizabeth Garrison may have been the basis of Darcy and Bennet. Then too there is the issue of her new friends, Beth and Jack Crowell, who seem to know way too much about the inner workings of those families and others not to be involved and Maggie is at a loss to explain how they have in their possession so many personal detailed letters that seem to match book events.

Is it an elaborate hoax to beguile tourists or something more? Could it all really be true?

The horrors of war, the clash of religions, and the clash of classes in postwar England and earlier are the main themes of this highly detailed and complex novel. This is an ambitious work that attempts to paint with a broad brush several different time periods while weaving the various tales into a cohesive whole. Covering the period from 1900 to the immediate years after World War Two as well as the period of Jane Austin's masterpiece is a formidable task. Despite the listing of thirty-eight names and four places in the cast of characters, the actual names dropped, discussed, and explored are easily three times that. At times it becomes a real struggle to keep things, especially in regards to relationships between all the parties real or fictional, straight and in order.

At 411 pages and with this amount of relationship complexity this is not a fast read nor was it intended to be one. Instead, it is more of an epic style romance that one does not usually see these days and is written in a style that reminds one of an older novel. Maggie, a romantic and a huge fan of the novel, is searching for her own life story and romance in a world that is changing rapidly. While the Second World War has changed everyone and everything, the aftermath of war is having a more profound affect on her and everyone around her while she seeks to mold her life into something akin to a literary experience. As she seeks answers in her own romance and is faced with decisions that will further shape her life, she seeks answers to a literary mystery and proof one way or the other.

Those readers very familiar with the novel in question will have a distinct advantage since more than half of this work is devoted to Jane Austin's book. Beyond a very brief synopsis that gives the highlights of "Pride and Prejudice" and a few other literary works that are mentioned from time to time, much of the character discussion and narration relate to major and very minor events in that novel, mores and customs of the period, and the possible identities of the estate location and various characters. At the same time, the economic and cultural changes after World War Two at home and abroad in England should strike a cord in any reader that takes the journey back into time with this interesting novel. Romance and the difficulties of romance is a universal theme for nearly any reader and that theme is a constant backdrop for almost the entire novel.

Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2008

When I first started to read, Pemberley Remembered, I had my misgivings because I couldn't remember the book, Pride and Prejudice. But as I continued to read, I was swept up in the world of Maggie Joyce and her quest to find the real life characters of Pride and Prejudice. In the midst of it all, she finds romance and I can't wait to read the SEQUEL (hint, hint to Ms. Simonsen).

I have found Pemberley Remembered to be a very impressive, first time novel. The knowledge that Mrs. Simonsen displays regarding the book Pride & Prejudice, and both world wars is quite extensive. Maggie Joyce's relationship with Rob McAllister as well as with Beth and Jack Crowell is indepth and gives a distinct feel for the period. When Maggie discovers the secret of who Austen's characters in P & P are based on, she is like a little kid on Christmas morning-both thrilled and most satisfied. You do not need to be a Jane Austen fan or familiar with her book to enjoy Pemberley Remembered. There is enough history, romance and suspense to hold your attention. Not only is there Maggie and Rob's relationship, but you discover how Beth and Jack fell in love, despite their different status in society . Intertwined throughout the book is the story of the fictional characters of P & P, especially Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, told through letters and diaries that Beth Crowell has in her possession. A sequel is a must. Mrs Simonsen has three distinctive stories that she could tell and I'm sure each would be as well written and enjoyable as Pemberley Remembered..

As a huge fan of P&P & one who has read many of the 'sequels', this is a truly a rare find. Mary Lydon Simonsen skillfully entwines three separate yet interconnected love stories. One long past, of the 'real' persons on whom Jane Austen based P&P; the next, having much in common with the first, of a love that develops against the rigid class system still existing in the early 20th century England; & the last of the American story teller & a war scarred American ex-bombardier in just post WWII England. It is an ambitious undertaking for any novelist, much less one's first. Yet she adeptly fleshes out these disparate characters & takes you on a journey that is rich, at times painful & completely mesmerizing. It begs a sequel. I cannot wait to read it. This by far the best of any of many 'sequels' to P&P I've read. Don't miss it.

Maggie Joyce is a young single woman living in London after World War II. Originally from America, she works as a typist at the War Office in London, awaiting and dreading the orders that will eliminate her position and send her home. While in England, Maggie decides to explore the setting of one of her favorite novels, Pride and Prejudice. Along with Rob, her commitment-phobic boyfriend who is still recovering from emotional wounds he received during the war, she explores England in a delightful fashion.

Maggie visits a home rumored to be the inspiration for Pemberley, the ancestral family home of Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. During her stay, she meets Jack and Beth Crowell, who seem to have an insider's perspective on the story behind Pride and Prejudice. As she forges a friendship with Jack and Beth, they begin to share their knowledge with her, leaving tantalizing clues as to the real events which inspired Austen's famous story. As Maggie finds the evidence more and more irrefutable, she begins to wonder about Jack and Beth. How is it possible they have this much intimate information regarding Pride and Prejudice? What is their secret?

Pemberley Remembered is historical fiction in the broadest sense. Not only does it cover Austen's Regency England; it is a revealing portrait of World War II and postwar England as well. Any fan of either will greatly enjoy this book. However, it is also a story of romance, the likes of which are unsurpassed in today's literary climate. I am hesitant to categorize the book as a romance, because while it is the story of Maggie and Rob and their love for each other, there is so much more that develops in the novel.

When a reader hears the title Pemberley Remembered, the first thing that comes to mind is Jane Austen's famous novel Pride and Prejudice. Any real fans of that work will most likely clamor to read this novel; anyone who does not recognize the name Pemberley will pass it by, even after picking it up to read the synopsis. What a mistake they would be making!

Simonsen's Pemberley Remembered is not just for fans of Jane Austen. True, a devout reader of Pride and Prejudice has an advantage due to the cavalier references throughout the book, which doesn't contain much summary. Parts of the novel might be a bit long and drawn out as Maggie strives to find the answers behind Pride and Prejudice's main characters and the real lives they may or may not have been based upon. So, being an Austen fan would be a definite plus (personally, I feel like a reader would have missed out on some of the most delightful parts of the book if they did not have familiarity with Austen), but not having read Pride and Prejudice should not preclude a reader from picking up Pemberley Remembered.

The most remarkable aspect of Pemberley Remembered is Simonsen's ability to take multiple stories from completely different time periods and fuse them together into a cohesive whole. Maggie's search for answers, Jack and Beth's story, the horrors of war, the development of Maggie and Rob's relationship, the story of the Garrisons and Laceys (the supposed characters the Bennets and Darcys were modeled upon), all while keeping the reader's interest in the mysteries of the novel - it is quite an achievement. Simonsen devotes ample time to each storyline, never neglecting one for another. The result is a beautiful, full book that is not a quick read - the complicated nature of the novel does not allow for that. Instead, it is a slower, satisfying read, another rarity with books today.

Pemberley Remembered is a shining addition to the world of historical fiction. While the reader may find some storylines more interesting than others, all are well written. There are so many books based on Pride and Prejudice or about it being released right now, and many of them are disappointing at best. Pemberley Remembered is what these books should be - a novel in its own right. While Pride and Prejudice is a big factor in the book, it does not define it. It can stand very well on its own merit, and because of that, any reader will most likely enjoy this book.


Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book