Thank you, Maria Grazia, for inviting me to
post on your blog. It is always a pleasure.
My latest release, Darcy Goes to War, has
been out for about two weeks, and there are two questions that keep popping up:
why World War II as a setting and do Darcy and Elizabeth fit into that time
period?
Let’s start with Darcy and Elizabeth. One
of the reasons we love these characters so much is because they have traits
that are admirable. For Elizabeth, because of a lack of planning on her
father’s part, she will inherit a paltry annuity. There is also an entail on
the Bennet estate. This is a very serious situation. At the time of their
father’s death, it is possible that the Bennet daughters and their mother will
be asked to leave Longbourn, and it will not be Mr. Collins’s problem to find
them a place to live. Despite her predicament, Elizabeth refuses Mr. Darcy’s
first offer of marriage. At this point in the novel, Mr. Darcy, although rich
and of a superior rank and someone who would solve most of her problems, is not
worthy of Elizabeth’s love. Saying “no” to Mr. Darcy took guts.
And what of Mr. Darcy? Our first encounter
with the gentleman at the Meryton assembly exposes a man who exhibits a
“selfish disdain for the feelings of others.” There is only marginal improvement
in his behavior at Rosings, but he blows that all to heck with his obnoxious
marriage proposal. It is only when we see Mr. Darcy through the eyes of others:
a good friend, a devoted sister, a loyal servant, do we catch a glimpse of the goodness
of the gentleman from Derbyshire. But in my mind, it is Darcy’s response to
Lydia’s situation that reveals the most about our hero. He didn’t have to
intervene. It must have been painful for him to interact with George Wickham, a
man who tried to elope with his fifteen-year-old sister. Despite the
unpleasantness of dealing with the morally bankrupt Wickham, Darcy rescues
Lydia. Why? He does it primarily because he loves Elizabeth, but he also does
it because it is the right thing to do.
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