Avarice & Affection: A Victorian Pride and Prejudice Vagary (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798335502085)

The Victorian Vagaries are a bit of a fairy tale... Have you ever read Pride and Prejudice, a Variation, a sequel, or any other book, and just wish it could go on for years? The Victorian Vagaries is the story of the Bennet women over twelve years of life and love... The men and heroes we love are ever present of course, but this is the story of the Bennet women in a slightly more modern setting, while keeping to the historical fiction theme that we all love.

Moving the story forward 36 years brings us to a time where more women were working, and the industrial revolution is taking over. Times and opportunities are changing for men and women alike, and Lady Astley, a society widow, and the eldest of her siblings, must protect herself and her vast fortune earned by investing with her uncle from fortune hunters and heiress snatchers, as well as support her step mother and four half sisters as they each break free from the fates laid down before them and meet their destinies. Some characters deviate from canon, others remain charmingly as we know them, and friends from other Jane Austen worlds join us, but never how you might expect, though everyone we love finds their happy ending, and when Elizabeth and Darcy find their happiness, their bond is as strong and beautiful as any of us could hope...

In Volume Four of our Victorian Vagaries, the Darcys support their married sisters, family, and friends through births, deaths, and weddings. Fortune hunters and catty debutantes follow Georgiana through the Ton as she triumphs in love, while Lydia naively misunderstands the intent of her suitors. A well educated polyglot, Miss Lydia Bennet follows her interests, advises the rich and noble on all areas of fashion, and saves Sanditon from certain failure. A decade later than anyone expects her to wed, Lydia becomes the editor of "Mode," London's newest fashion magazine, and rekindles a romance with a long extinguished flame...

Some friends from Mansfield Park and the cast of Sanditon join us, the Duchess of Leeds visits from abroad, though not how you might expect, and all of our friends' stories conclude in this 95,000 word slow burn, sweet and clean Victorian era vagary.