Andrea Freeman

Blended whiskey, blended family. Thomas Bennet is a successful second son, a man who went into trade when his older brother, Harold, inherited Longbourn. When Harold passes, Thomas and his two children (James and Elizabeth) return to Longbourn to live with Harold’s widow (Fanny) and four daughters (Jane, Mary, Catherine and Lydia). A full length novel that is a clean, low angst reimagining of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

What if Elizabeth and Jane were the daughters of Mr Bennet's first wife, Eleanor, who died in childbirth bringing Elizabeth and her twin brother (who also died) into the world? Distraught, a few years later, he marries Fanny Philips who turns out to be a vicious and vindictive woman who holds Elizabeth to blame for all the wrongs in her life. The girls are forced to leave their family home to live in Lambton with an aunt and uncle, and they meet the Darcy family. What means will Fanny enact to revenge herself for all the wrongs she feels Elizabeth has done her?

Georgiana Darcy made a foolish mistake. One that would have deadly consequences. Believing herself in love with George Wickham, she leaves Ramsgate with him, to make the journey to Gretna Green to elope. During the trip, Georgiana learns the truth of why Wickham wished to marry her, for her fortune. The young lady was able to escape from Wickham, and ends up in the post coach which happens to stop in Meryton. The stop in Meryton is one that will change the lives of all they know and love. Elizabeth Bennet has been given an ultimatum, marry the heir of her father's estate or leave her family...

In this low angst, a sweet retelling of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Bennet is not just idle, he is actively cruel. And Mrs. Bennet, while still uneducated, must do whatever she can to protect her daughters from their father. Mr. Darcy’s epiphany comes much earlier than in canon and it changes his relationships not only with the Bennets but with his sister, his cousin Anne, and Bingley. When the Bennet matriarch moves to an estate outside of Bath with her daughters, Bingley follows and so do both Darcy siblings.