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Return To Longbourn (2013)

by Shannon Winslow(Favorite Author)

3.87 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

098902590X (ISBN13: 9780989025904)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Heather Ridge Arts

series

The Darcys of Pemberley

review 1: A little slow, but nice homage to P&P, nice integration of quotes for JA's originals. This is the second fan fiction I've read that focuses on Mary. She's definitely becoming my favorite Bennet sister. Both very different books, very different takes on Mary and the family, both faithful to the JA cannon. This one's more lighthearted, traditional romance in flavor. I enjoyed it enough to go back and buy the first one of this series.
review 2: Parts of this imperfect but immensely worthwhile Pride and Prejudice sequel/spin-off are as authentically Austen-esque as I've ever been lucky enough to find. Like Austen's work, the joy isn't so much in the actual plot of the story the author is telling, but in how she's choosing to tell it. At many points, Shannon Wi... morenslow writes with the eminent elegance, wit, and sneakily profound insight of which Jane Austen herself would likely approve. I found the pacing a tad uneven: a couple of relationships seemed to move a little jarringly from "nice to meet you" to an extremely strong attachment that felt more told than actually shown and developed, and one could argue that not quite enough actually happened in the first half while a bit *too* much happened in the second. And I'm still oddly ambivalent about the person whom Mary ends up with at the end of the novel. I was so enamored with the exquisite language and the opportunity to revisit with some of my favorite characters in the history of literature, though, that the above mild criticisms ceased to matter. This is a rich, spirited novel full of wish-I-could-write-like-that prose, sharp wit and keen perception.I almost never muster up much (if any!) affection or enthusiasm for the many Austen sequels I've sampled, and can safely claim without hyperbole that this one was my very favorite. I'm off to read this author's The Darcy's of Pemberley with the expectation that it will also prove a happy exception to my general anti-sequel rule! Very highly recommended for fellow Jane-ites. less

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