The Truth About Family

A friends to lovers variation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

Banished from longbourn at a young age, Elizabeth Bennet is raised among the Fitzwilliams at the Romsley estate, growing up alongside Fitzwilliam Darcy and his cousins. Entering adulthood, Elizabeth soon finds herself in possession of a secret love for him that even she knows is futile, and she must settle for his friendship.

Seeing that Elizabeth Bennet has become a pretty young woman, Darcy’s mother, Lady Anne, and her sister are desperate to separate her from Darcy. Elizabeth returns to Longbourn for the first time in 15 years, where her hopes of finding a loving family are quickly dashed. She is relieved and embarrassed when Darcy and his cousins join her in Hertfordshire, though she is determined to set aside her tender feelings for him.

Darcy is frantic with worry about Elizabeth while they are apart. No one is more shocked than he is when he realizes the true depth of his feelings for her. He sets off to convince her to love him and accept a life as his wife. Will his mother’s hostility prove too great an obstacle?

©2022 Lucy Marin (P)2023 Quills & Quartos Publishing

Lovely story

I loved the Fitzwilliam brothers in this variation and wished they were more active in the story. I didn’t buy Lady Anne Darcy’s excuse and it detracted from the story. I was expecting that she was resentful because her husband wanted to raise Elizabeth. In any event, she and LCdB got off too easily. I also think Darcy made a too abrupt about face when he decided he loved Elizabeth.
The narrator was excellent.

Bad Lady Ann

Very unbelievable premise - Mrs. Bennett gives Elizabeth away at age 5 because she is irritating. But it creates the opportunity for Elizabeth to be raised by relatives of Darcy's parents. These relatives are good people, but Darcy's mother (Lady Ann) and Lady Katherine are horrible. They resent their family taking in little Elizabeth because they believe she is of inferior birth and "taints" the family. When 20 year old Elizabeth visits her "real" family, she finds them to be most lacking in character and affection. Poor Elizabeth. But Darcy dreadfully misses Elizabeth when she leave to see her "real" family and finds out that he is in love with her. I did not find that Lady Ann improved much even when she relented in her dislike of Elizabeth. She only relented because Darcy forced her to do so. A new character, named Rebecca, was introduced and I like her very much. She is the new and improved Jane personality.

It was an enjoyable read!

I liked the additional characters that were added in, and LOVED that we didn’t need to focus on the Bingley sisters too much. Well written, in the trued Janeite style.

Unique take

The only thing this story was missing is Elizabeth telling off the Bennett family, especially Mrs Bennett!

Fostered out elsewhere Elizabeth

Elizabeth is fostered out by her father to a dowager countess friend of her grandmother. However, she never returns to the Bennet household. Elizabeth is raised amongst the ton (Fitzwilliams, Darcys & De Bourgh) with all the education and benefits. Circumstances happen courtesy of Lady Anne Darcy and her dragon of a sister Lady Catherine that turn Lizzy's life upside down.

Stevie narration you can't go wrong. Well written.