The Marriage Bargain: A Variation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

De: Lucy Marin

Narrado por: Alexandra Lee Smith

“You can sell Pemberley and settle as many debts as possible. Or you could marry a wealthy woman and use her fortune to restore it.”

Fitzwilliam Darcy, heir to a mountain of debt, a tarnished family name, and a crumbling estate, finds himself confronted by an unthinkable choice. Knowing it is a last chance to save his birthright, he agrees to an arranged marriage with Miss Elizabeth Bennet, ward of her wealthy but vulgar uncle, Mr. Gardiner. Despite entering into the marriage understanding what he is giving up, he soon finds himself resenting the actions of his forebears and the choices he feels he was forced to make.

Elizabeth Bennet knows that marrying a gentleman of high birth would allow her to reclaim the social status she lost when her father died. Having been approached by men falsely proclaiming their affection for her, she embraces the opportunity to set the terms of her marriage openly and honestly. After meeting Mr. Darcy and his sister, Elizabeth is determined to give them the home and care they deserve. Believing she and Mr. Darcy have a common understanding of what their union will be like, she has high hopes for a happy future.

A friendship between them soon promises to bloom into something more romantic, but Darcy has unresolved issues in his past that will not remain hidden. Dismayed, Darcy at last confronts his errors…but is it too late for he and Elizabeth to find happiness together?

The Marriage Bargain is a forced or contracted marriage variation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and will be enjoyed by fans of Georgette Heyer's A Civil Contract and other regency romances.

©2022 Lucy Sportza (P)2022 Quills & Quartos Publishing

Very well-imagined, though the redemptive arc is a bit disappointing

Lizzie is too quick to forgive and there’s insufficient true amends made or understanding reached, but the themes are interesting. (The performer’s intake of breath is very audible.)

quite a twist

very clever names. enjoyable. Darcy didn't really emerge until later in the book nice diversion.

Dary Who?

Elizabeth shines in this tale. She is the sole heir of a vast fortune and is willing to marry a suitable man who shares her desire for a happy home and family.

Darcy is overwhelmed by his circumstances and faces the loss of Pemberley and all wealth with a sense of desperation. His desire to give his sister a happy home at Pemberley leads him to the altar with Elizabeth.

Darcy whines internally at his circumstances from the story's beginning about his admiration for Caroline Bingley. However, his inability to see the shrew's character flaws leads him to behave in a reprehensible manner that eventually forces Elizabeth to leave him for several weeks.

The story is a good read. Listen if you want to hear Darcy at his worst and Elizabeth at her best.

Little bit too much angst

Darcy was a little thicker and more stubborn than usual. And took a little longer than usual to figure out what a jewel Elizabeth was.

Excellent twist on the Darcy/Lizzie/Caroline Bingley triangle

Almost a total rewrite of P and P--familiar characters but a lot of rearrangement of the story as we know it. Hesitant at first about the narrator (mostly due to unfamiliarity) but not a problem

Once again, another winner from Marin

The narrator does a decent job. I think a male voice -- Harry Frost, in particular -- would have been a much better choice though. I wasn't overly fond of her choice of voice for Caroline. It is full of whiney petulance and while I get why she chose to do that I think it doesn't work because that isn't how Darcy sees her. The recording has some static at times, which is also annoying.

I have developed a real love for Lucy Marin's books. She takes an in depth look into various problems of the Regency time period and gives us a fascinating "what if?" story in the P&P universe.

The description of the book is good. Here are a few other things, Charles Bingley and his sister Caroline, live on an estate in Derbyshire and have been long time friends with Darcy, in spite of the objections of his family. Bingley's father was a tradesman so they are looked down upon by most of Darcy's class. There is no Wickham, though Caroline Bingley shows many of his mannerisms. That was well done.

Side note: thank you, Marin, for not naming the Colonel, Richard. Jane Austen never gave him a first name so I prefer it if other JAFF authors don't use the same one as everyone else.

Now, here is what Marin does best. She shows all of the hypocrisy of the haute ton in their treatment of Elizabeth. But she also shows it in Darcy himself. And yes, Darcy is a hypocritical jerk through much of this. But I also felt extremely sorry for him because he was raised in this atmosphere. He is fighting an engrained belief that is supported by the society he grew up in. Elizabeth is a gentleman's daughter but all anyone cares about is that she is a tradesman's niece. Marriages at the time were mostly business arrangements in the ton and gentlemen would marry for a woman's dowry all the time because the dowry was usually needed on the estate. That was normal. Marrying for love was not. And yet, the society itself would still look down on the man for doing so by marrying a woman connected to trade. Darcy does everything he can to honorably save Pemberley and to help his sister and instead of being praised for it, he is criticized and made fun of because he did it by marrying a tradesman's niece. They show more respect for a member of the gentry who is deep in debt and gambles too much than they do one who is trying to climb out of a deep hole of debt caused by his family. He used honorable means to do it and the society, as well as Darcy himself, looked down on him for it. HIs contempt for himself drives much of his actions.

The hypocrisy is really seen by Darcy's treatment of Caroline vs Elizabeth. It was fascinating watching him look at his world with a beam in his own eye. Elizabeth is above her in birth and behavior but he, like most of the ton, refuses to see it. And why he won't see it is an integral part of the climax and denouement so I won't spoil it. The big showdown that takes the scales off of his eyes is really good.

Marin also shows why the phrase that so many JAFF authors love -- "Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure" -- is not an admirable nor useful philosophy. And it causes much more damage than it heals. (Of course Jane Austen herself wrote it as a satirical moment because Elizabeth shows all throughout the book that she doesn't actually believe or even try to enact that philosophy but that's beside the point here.)

But mainly, I appreciated the deep look into one of the awful parts of Regency society because we, with our 21st century eyes, tend to see it as something beautiful when in reality, it wasn't. There was much in that society that was wrong. Marin is excellent at removing our rose colored glasses.

Different, but we'll written

Is this the standard Darcy we are used to in Pride and Prejudice variations? No, it is not. However I found that I could still become easily involved in the story as certain core concepts were not changed too far. I feel the narrator did a good job, though I did notice a few words slurred. I must say out of such a long book, it would only be natural that that would happen from time to time. I've noticed this author does very well at writing in the style of Pride and Prejudice. Some authors might use the characters of Pride and Prejudice, but are unable to write in the style we know and love and I find it incredibly difficult to read when it feels vulgar or lacking substance. This is not the case here. Altogether, I would recommend this book. I am a lover Pride and Prejudice variations and am glad to have discovered this one.

The Story

Fun story , I love the same character’s as Sense and Sensibility and Pemberly but a different story line.

Jane Austen meets Georgette Heyer

An interesting mashup of JAFF and Heyer’s “A Civil Contract.” Darcy is slightly more well behaved than Adam Deveril. Caroline is spot on as Julia. D’s repentance is more satisfying. An enjoyable read.

Almost a DNF - Darcy was unbearable

For 10/12 hours Darcy was an unbearable self-centered prat. Almost quit, but continued hoping the resolution would be worth it. It wasn't. The resolution was just fine. ... but not worth the previous 10 hours.