Book review: Unequal Affections by Lara S. Ormiston

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the most common category of Jane Austen fiction is the sequel: Elinor and Marianne are married off so let's get to Margaret, or Mr. and Mrs. Darcy solve murders in the English countryside in the manner of Nick and Nora.  Another category which seems to be growing, however, is the "counterfactual" retelling of the original novels, diverging at a certain point in the narrative and imagining how events might have ensued if the characters made different choices.

The sixty-second book I read in 2015 is just such a novel: Unequal Affections: A Pride & Prejudice Retelling by Lara S. Ormiston.  The author posits that Lizzy accepts Darcy's first proposal in Kent rather than telling him off and imagines how their engagement might follow.

For about the first half of this book, I expected that it might join Pamela Aidan's Darcy trilogy at the top of my list of Austeniana.  The writing and characterization are largely consistent with the original (though surely it should be "Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth Bennet" when Jane and Lizzy pay a call, not "Miss Bennet and Miss Bennet"), and the story it tells, of a woman who accepts a proposal of marriage based on the advantages of the man making the offer and her doubt that she'll receive a better rather than overwhelming love, is both undertold and undoubtedly more common to the era than the marriages of true minds that Austen chronicles.

As the engagement drags on, however, Ormiston falls into the fan-fiction trap of letting the characters talk too much.  Jane Austen can be infuriating about not reporting exactly what is said between Emma and Mr. Knightley, but leaving the reader wanting more is better than having them wish Darcy and Elizabeth would just shut up about how wonderful the other partner is.  Ormiston's Darcy requests a short engagement of only a month, but when the betrothed pair spend the entire time talking to or about one another, it's too long for my tastes.  Elope, already.

Lydia's honor is saved in this retelling, despite her best efforts, but we are deprived of Elizabeth's visit to Pemberley.  She won't see it in Ormiston's world until after her marriage.