I want to thank Maria Grazia for hosting me on her blog for my new book, “Pride, Prejudice, and Secrets,” as she did last year for “Consequences.” To begin with, this novel is a variation on “Pride and Prejudice,” as were my previous two efforts, in that I try to portray what might have happened if a particular decision or even happened differently. After that point, I try to keep the characters as true to those Austen portrayed as possible. For example, I would have difficulty writing a variation in which Elizabeth Bennet married George Wickham; it just wouldn’t work for me, for my inner characterization of her would make such an event impossible. If she would refuse both Mr. Collins and Darcy, then I can conceive of no way she would ever marry Wickham. I know other authors have taken that path, and, if they made it work, they’re better writers than I am.
