Dear Mr. Darcy: A Retelling of Pride and Prejudice

AUTHOR’S NOTE

I’ve always been fascinated by Jane Austen’s novels, and by Pride and Prejudice in particular. It was started in 1796–97 and then revised a great deal before being published in 1813. It seems likely that it was originally written in epistolary form since Sense and Sensibility, started at around the same time, was first drafted in this way.

Over the years I have asked myself what new characters would be necessary to reveal the plot if the epistolary form were used, and what interesting insights those letters would reveal. I imagined the feelings of the social climbing Caroline Bingley on first discovering that her brother knew Mr Darcy of Pemberley, and Louisa Bingley’s feelings towards Mr Hurst. I imagined the family who lived at Netherfield and their reasons for vacating the house, so that it was fortuitously available for Mr Bingley to rent. I imagined letters between Elizabeth and her sensible Aunt Gardiner, and letters between Elizabeth and Jane. I imagined Mr Darcy’s letters to his family when his father died and his feelings when he shouldered his responsibilities to his younger sister and the Pemberley estate. And I imagined his feelings for Elizabeth, revealed in his letters to his family and friends.

When other people want to explore their ideas about Jane Austen’s books, they chat with fellow Janeites or write learned articles. When I want to explore my ideas, I write novels.

I have taken the opportunity to include the futures that Jane Austen herself planned for Mary and Kitty Bennet, revealed to her family members when they asked her what became of the other Bennet girls.

So here it is, my vision of how Pride and Prejudice might have looked in its earliest incarnation, written to entertain anyone who is in love with Jane Austen and Dear Mr Darcy.

Amanda Grange