Marrying Darcy
Elizabeth M.Historical erotic romance
Available from iUniverse
ISBN: 978-0-595-38176-0
February 2006
| Fitzwilliam Darcy at twenty-five has inherited his sizeable estate on the unexpected demise of his father. In order to provide a companion for his fourteen-year-old and somewhat shy sister, Georgiana, Darcy employs Mrs. Younge, a widow of less than thirty years. For the past four years Darcy has had a London mistress, theatrical actress Sara Denes, who chose him as opposed to him choosing her. He had been a rather backward and innocent young man. Although she acted as his mistress, Sara maintained her own sense of propriety and was never his kept woman. However, now that Darcy has decided he wants a more cooperative and adventurous mistress, Sara refuses. His thoughts turn to marriage, as surely a wedded wife would be obligated by duty to accept his advances in all ways.
Anya Melnikov is a sixteen-year-old girl, of French and Russian parentage, attending the girls' finishing school in London where her mother teaches French. Her father had been a Russian prince, but the invasion of Russia by Napoleon's armies resulted in the exile of her mother and herself, and the death of her father. She longs to return to Russia but her mother is committed to two more years of teaching. In the meantime, her young noble boyfriend is snatched away from her and Darcy discovers that his sister's suitor has first seduced the companion, Mrs. Younge, and then conspired with her to plan a way to elope with Georgiana so that he could control her portion of the estate. Now Georgiana is without a companion, except for her dear friend Anya, who knows Georgiana's secrets as well as quite a few of Darcy's. Marrying Darcy is a complicated novel of manners and emotions in early 19th century England. This reviewer found the female characters to be on the whole, more fully developed than the male characters, even the protagonist Darcy. However, in descriptive setting and historical background the story is well-founded, and should please readers of Victoriana and 19th century British and European history.
Overall rating:
Reviewer: Annie |
