JOANA'S BOOKS ON AMAZON:
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TWISTS OF FATE
What if Mr Collins shocked Elizabeth with his base conduct at the time of his proposal, thus sending her dashing out of her house, and into the arms of Mr Darcy?
What if that accidental encounter was witnessed, and impropriety was assumed? What if Mr Darcy was glad of the excuse to marry his heart’s desire – only to have his best hopes blasted within hours of his wedding? What if he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time more than once? Evil rumours, an early marriage, a dreadful misunderstanding, an old secret and good intentions gone awry. What if ‘I do’ is not the end, but the beginning of the adventure? |
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A TIMELY ELOPEMENT What if Mr Darcy’s first proposal was interrupted by a bearer of ill tidings? The worst tidings: an elopement!
Ah, but whose elopement would allow Elizabeth and Mr Darcy to spend quite so much time together and overcome their prejudices and his stubborn pride? |
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THE JOURNEY HOME
TO PEMBERLEY A chance encounter in the wilds of the North brings more joy to Elizabeth and Mr Darcy than either of them dared hope for.
But her world is rocked by blow after blow – and the truth would only cause him pain. ‘I must be cruel only to be kind’ is Elizabeth’s guiding precept, and she chooses her path. Yet time, circumstances and new acquaintances teach her she had made a terrible mistake. How can she regain what she had lost and rebuild a future with the only man she will ever love, but for whom disguise of every sort is his abhorrence? A 2019 FAVOURITE
AT AUSTENESQUE REVIEWS FROM PEMBERLEY TO MILTON AND DIARY OF AN ECCENTRIC |
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THE DARCY LEGACY
Pemberley’s ancient halls harbour many secrets. Which one will affect Fitzwilliam Darcy and the love of his life?
How is Mr Bennet to enjoy the comforts of a well-stocked library, when his wife’s premature demise had left him with the task of finding suitable matches for their daughters? And what of a misleading encounter on a muddy lane in Hertfordshire, that renders a country-town assembly rather more tolerable than some might have thought? Shades of mystery, meddlesome relations – not least a drenched Adonis – raillery, old errors and a very recent union make for a challenging courtship when Fitzwilliam Darcy is not on his own ground. Yet when love is the reward, challenges make it more worth the earning. |
“A fraught courtship? So, let it be fraught,” Colonel Fitzwilliam said with a nonchalant flourish of his hand. “A good challenge never hurt anyone.”
A 2018 FAVOURITE
AT
FROM PEMBERLEY TO MILTON
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MR BENNET'S
DUTIFUL DAUGHTER When Colonel Fitzwilliam’s disclosures are interrupted by the bearer of distressing news from Longbourn, Miss Elizabeth Bennet is compelled to accept an offer she would have otherwise dismissed out of hand. An offer of marriage from the all-too-proud Mr Darcy. Yet how is she to live with a husband she hardly knows and does not love? Will she continue to feel trapped in a marriage of convenience while events conspire to divide them? Or would love grow as, day by day and hour after hour, she learns to understand the man she married, before she loses his trust and his heart? |
A 2016 AND 2017 FAVOURITE
AT
AUSTENESQUE REVIEWS
BABBLINGS OF
A BOOKWORM
DIARY OF AN ECCENTRIC
FROM PEMBERLEY
TO MILTON
MORE AGREEABLY ENGAGED
JUST JANE 1813
MARGIE'S MUST-READS
AND
OBSESSED WITH MR DARCY
AT
AUSTENESQUE REVIEWS
BABBLINGS OF
A BOOKWORM
DIARY OF AN ECCENTRIC
FROM PEMBERLEY
TO MILTON
MORE AGREEABLY ENGAGED
JUST JANE 1813
MARGIE'S MUST-READS
AND
OBSESSED WITH MR DARCY
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MISS DARCY'S COMPANION
Miss Georgiana Darcy is need of a companion, and she would much rather not have Mrs Younge.
The recently bereaved Miss Elizabeth Bennet is in need of a position. When she accepts the one Mr Darcy offers, she finds herself in his near-constant company and gets to know him at his best. Not as he would present himself to strangers in some remote corner of Hertfordshire, but as his nearest and dearest know him. An excellent brother, landlord, master. A wonderful man, noble, kind – and impossibly handsome. So who falls in love first? What of Mr Wickham and his dastardly ploys? And how is a lady’s companion ever to have a future with one who could marry into the best houses in the land? |
A 2016 FAVOURITE
AT AUSTENESQUE REVIEWS, MORE AGREEABLY ENGAGED
AND DIARY OF AN ECCENTRIC
AT AUSTENESQUE REVIEWS, MORE AGREEABLY ENGAGED
AND DIARY OF AN ECCENTRIC
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THE UNTHINKABLE TRIANGLE
All is fair in love and war, they say... But is it? What if Mr. Darcy's rival for Elizabeth's heart is not some
inconsequential stranger - but his dearest, closest friend? What if his dearest cousin beats him to the post, proposes to Elizabeth during her visit to Hunsford - and is accepted? |
A 2015 FAVOURITE AT AUSTENESQUE REVIEWS,
MORE AGREEABLY ENGAGED AND JUST JANE 1813
MORE AGREEABLY ENGAGED AND JUST JANE 1813
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THE UNTHINKABLE TRIANGLE
A hint of the trouble in store for Mr. Darcy
(EXCERPT)
A hint of the trouble in store for Mr. Darcy
(EXCERPT)
Rosings, April 1812
“Come now, Darcy! Have you never been tempted to evade our dearest aunt’s presence?” Fitzwilliam laughed and his inordinately gleeful manner gave Darcy pause in offering the brandy he had poured. “Her talents are well and truly wasted,” Fitzwilliam resumed. “If only she could be in command of the Third Dragoons! I could well imagine my hardened companions quaking in their boots before her!” he added with an immoderate guffaw.
Having heard as much, Darcy carried his own glass to his lips but left the other on the marble-topped sideboard. He set his own drink down and cast a smiling glance at his relation.
“Have you been drinking, Fitzwilliam?”
“Aye. The nectar of the gods. Aphrodite’s own witch brew,” his companion retorted with another chuckle.
“Honestly, Cousin! I know Lady Catherine is a trial on one’s patience, but drowning yourself at the local watering hole is not an answer. And so immoderately too! I have never seen you quite so much in your cups!”
A diverted smile was his answer and then Fitzwilliam spoke up.
“I am not in my cups, Cousin.”
“Is that so? You could have fooled me! Then what ails you?”
“Nothing ails me,” the other replied promptly. “Quite the opposite, in fact. Darcy, I am engaged to be married! I proposed today and Miss Bennet had the kindness to say yes! Now, I can see that you are stunned, and before you say anything, aye, I know that in some respects this is sheer madness, since we both have precious little to live on. She is far from wealthy and so am I, but somehow things will come together. Thank goodness for Old Boney. At least my soldier’s pay would see us through for as long as the war lasts, and then I shall find a way to keep us afloat. Damme, I would even go into trade if I have to, and if this does not send my esteemed father into a fit of apoplexy then I do not know what would. You say nothing… What, no congratulations? I am that sorry, Darcy! I was hoping to have you on my side at least. I know how wild it seems and bordering on the irresponsible. Believe you me, I did try very hard indeed to be sensible and tell myself it is not an advantageous match. Pater would rant and rave and so would the others, but I say hang them all! I could not leave her, Darcy, and go my own way! I cannot lose her. I love her. And I was hoping that even you might come to see why. I know she does not meet with your approval in more than one regard but, for my sake, I was hoping you can overlook it and wish us joy,” Fitzwilliam concluded at last, his open countenance reflecting genuine emotion, and his hand outstretched.
From the moment that the thunder had struck, Darcy had heard less than one word in twenty. All the while, three other words screamed in his head, over and over.
‘This cannot be! This cannot be! This cannot be!’
What mockery was this – what nightmare?
If it was a nightmare, then good Lord, pray let him awaken!
And yet the heavens remained silent, and the nightmare raged on.
His cousin was not silent, but his words held no meaning, as though they were spoken in a foreign tongue. At long last, he stopped talking and offered him his hand. Through nothing but numb force of habit, Darcy took it and clasped it, then abruptly excused himself, his steps carrying him faster and faster through the silent house.
‘Dead man walking – how dreadfully fitting.’ The thought flitted through his shock-struck mind, soon to be followed by disjointed, lightning-like flashes, as he walked out of the house into the pitch-dark garden. Elizabeth married to Fitzwilliam – his closest relation, in spirit if not blood. And he would see them together constantly. In town. At Ashford. And at Pemberley. Married to his cousin. He would be expected to attend the wedding. See her at the altar pledging herself to his closest friend. See them walk away to be man and wife together!
He gasped for breath, as though punched in the stomach – or as though he was about to be violently sick.
* * * * * * *
“Come now, Darcy! Have you never been tempted to evade our dearest aunt’s presence?” Fitzwilliam laughed and his inordinately gleeful manner gave Darcy pause in offering the brandy he had poured. “Her talents are well and truly wasted,” Fitzwilliam resumed. “If only she could be in command of the Third Dragoons! I could well imagine my hardened companions quaking in their boots before her!” he added with an immoderate guffaw.
Having heard as much, Darcy carried his own glass to his lips but left the other on the marble-topped sideboard. He set his own drink down and cast a smiling glance at his relation.
“Have you been drinking, Fitzwilliam?”
“Aye. The nectar of the gods. Aphrodite’s own witch brew,” his companion retorted with another chuckle.
“Honestly, Cousin! I know Lady Catherine is a trial on one’s patience, but drowning yourself at the local watering hole is not an answer. And so immoderately too! I have never seen you quite so much in your cups!”
A diverted smile was his answer and then Fitzwilliam spoke up.
“I am not in my cups, Cousin.”
“Is that so? You could have fooled me! Then what ails you?”
“Nothing ails me,” the other replied promptly. “Quite the opposite, in fact. Darcy, I am engaged to be married! I proposed today and Miss Bennet had the kindness to say yes! Now, I can see that you are stunned, and before you say anything, aye, I know that in some respects this is sheer madness, since we both have precious little to live on. She is far from wealthy and so am I, but somehow things will come together. Thank goodness for Old Boney. At least my soldier’s pay would see us through for as long as the war lasts, and then I shall find a way to keep us afloat. Damme, I would even go into trade if I have to, and if this does not send my esteemed father into a fit of apoplexy then I do not know what would. You say nothing… What, no congratulations? I am that sorry, Darcy! I was hoping to have you on my side at least. I know how wild it seems and bordering on the irresponsible. Believe you me, I did try very hard indeed to be sensible and tell myself it is not an advantageous match. Pater would rant and rave and so would the others, but I say hang them all! I could not leave her, Darcy, and go my own way! I cannot lose her. I love her. And I was hoping that even you might come to see why. I know she does not meet with your approval in more than one regard but, for my sake, I was hoping you can overlook it and wish us joy,” Fitzwilliam concluded at last, his open countenance reflecting genuine emotion, and his hand outstretched.
From the moment that the thunder had struck, Darcy had heard less than one word in twenty. All the while, three other words screamed in his head, over and over.
‘This cannot be! This cannot be! This cannot be!’
What mockery was this – what nightmare?
If it was a nightmare, then good Lord, pray let him awaken!
And yet the heavens remained silent, and the nightmare raged on.
His cousin was not silent, but his words held no meaning, as though they were spoken in a foreign tongue. At long last, he stopped talking and offered him his hand. Through nothing but numb force of habit, Darcy took it and clasped it, then abruptly excused himself, his steps carrying him faster and faster through the silent house.
‘Dead man walking – how dreadfully fitting.’ The thought flitted through his shock-struck mind, soon to be followed by disjointed, lightning-like flashes, as he walked out of the house into the pitch-dark garden. Elizabeth married to Fitzwilliam – his closest relation, in spirit if not blood. And he would see them together constantly. In town. At Ashford. And at Pemberley. Married to his cousin. He would be expected to attend the wedding. See her at the altar pledging herself to his closest friend. See them walk away to be man and wife together!
He gasped for breath, as though punched in the stomach – or as though he was about to be violently sick.
* * * * * * *
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THE FALMOUTH CONNECTION
Just as Mr. Darcy finally decides to propose to the enticing Miss Elizabeth Bennet, she is summoned to Falmouth, to meet a relation she never knew she had. Thus, the ill-starred Hunsford proposal is avoided, but before he could even begin to understand his luck, adverse circumstances hasten to conspire against him, and Fitzwilliam Darcy is compelled to follow the woman he loves to the far reaches of Cornwall, into a world of deceit and peril where few – if any – are what they seem to be… |
A 2012 - 2014 FAVOURITE
AT
AUSTENESQUE REVIEWS
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THE SECOND CHANCE
A 'Pride & Prejudice' ~ 'Sense & Sensibility' Variation Soon after the Netherfield ball, a troubled Mr. Darcy decides to walk away from a most unsuitable fascination. Yet heartache is in store for them all, and his misguided attempts to ensure the comfort of the woman he loves backfire in ways he had not expected... “Well, Sir, what shall it be? The joy of music or of the printed word?” she asked, in a manner so highly reminiscent of their past interactions as to make him almost giddy with renewed hope. 'The joy of you. My greatest folly was to ever walk away from it!' |
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THE SUBSEQUENT PROPOSAL
A Tale of Pride, Prejudice and Persuasion A number of brokenhearted characters from Jane Austen’s best novels are thrown together by the vagaries of fate, and all manner of unwise decisions are taken at this vulnerable time. But then their past creeps up upon them – and what is there to do but face it, and hope that their convoluted paths will finally lead them to their proper place? There is a rose that begins its life as a small, ungainly yellow rosebud, tentatively tinged with hints of orange. Yet, as it blooms, the vivid tones of jealousy slowly lose ground to the vibrant red of love everlasting, which gradually seeps into the petals, until they open fully into a gloriously perfect fire-rose. By happy coincidence, this is precisely what this story is about! |
“Elizabeth… ” he murmured against her lips, her skin, her hair, and then her lips again. “I cannot forsake you!
I cannot! I cannot lose you! I cannot bear to think of a life without you – ‘tis not worth living, ‘tis but a slow death! I cannot lose you! I beg you, do not send me away again! I love you! Elizabeth, I love you!”
Friends, rivals, foes, wrong choices and a duel – Fitzwilliam Darcy’s life is never dull! ‘The Subsequent Proposal’ follows Mr. Darcy in his struggles to decipher the troubling enigma of Elizabeth Bennet’s feelings
and correct the worst misjudgement of his life…
I cannot! I cannot lose you! I cannot bear to think of a life without you – ‘tis not worth living, ‘tis but a slow death! I cannot lose you! I beg you, do not send me away again! I love you! Elizabeth, I love you!”
Friends, rivals, foes, wrong choices and a duel – Fitzwilliam Darcy’s life is never dull! ‘The Subsequent Proposal’ follows Mr. Darcy in his struggles to decipher the troubling enigma of Elizabeth Bennet’s feelings
and correct the worst misjudgement of his life…
A 2012 - 2014 FAVOURITE
AT
AUSTENESQUE REVIEWS
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FROM THIS DAY FORWARD
THE DARCYS OF PEMBERLEY A Pride and Pejudice Sequel On a crisp winter morning, in a small country church, Miss Elizabeth Bennet married Mr Darcy – and her quiet, tame existence had abruptly changed. The second daughter of a country gentleman is now many different things, to different people. Beloved wife. Mistress of a dauntingly great estate. Reluctant socialite. Daughter. Sister. Cousin. Friend. Her world is very different too, touched by a series of events that the creator of ‘Pride & Prejudice’ would have recognised. And as the days of her married life go by bringing both joy and turmoil, the man that stands beside her is her shelter and comfort in the face of family opposition, peril and heartbreak.
Three very different Christmas seasons come to serve as landmarks to their lives and there are blissful days and times of sorrow at the old English country house. And before too long, a time would come when Darcy must decide if he is prepared to risk everything for the sake of a full life together - or succumb to the collection of his fears. |
“Quiet footsteps, eerily quiet, drew him from his trance. He looked up – and followed. The ghostly sound faded as he reached the eastern staircase and he took the steps two at a time, down to the very bottom. A madman’s quest for he knew not what pushed him to the gallery. In the light of the moon, from her portrait, his grandfather’s first wife looked down upon him with the deepest compassion. He dug his fingers in his hair. A long, dry sob racked his chest as he pounded the frame of the unfortunate woman’s likeness, and broken gilt plaster fell to the floor. He covered his mouth with his fist, stifling the groan. And ran out of the deathly silent room, chased by his demons.”
