Mr. Darcy: The Last Man in the World
Written by Abigail Reynolds, Mr. Darcy: The Last Man in the World branches off from the middle of P & P, from Darcy's first proposal to Elizabeth. Why does sensible Eliza agree to marry disagreeable Mr. Darcy? Because he kisses her, assuming in his arrogance that she would not refuse him, and is spotted by Colonel Fitzwilliam. Darcy believes Elizabeth returns his love, while she has agreed to marry him only because she believes she has been compromised.
Elizabeth begins her married life with much discontent, despite Darcy's constant attentions. He bestows upon Mrs. Darcy, mistress of Pemberly, all his love, admiration and respect and strives to be a good husband to her. He does, however, ask her to cut off correspondence with her family (I must mention here that his proposal is exactly the same as in P & P; the outcome is different).
Georgiana believes Eliza is a fortune hunter, and Eliza believes in Wickham's description of her sister-in-law. It is only with the visit of Colonel Fitzwilliam that Elizabeth finally reveals to Darcy that she had had no intention of accepting his offer of marriage, this when Darcy confronts her out of jealousy. All of the accusations, that we are familiar with, are laid at Darcy's door, and he storms out, angry, offended and upset.
He does offer her an explanation about Wickham's character, but it is Georgiana who reveals the whole story when Lydia's elopement comes to light. Elizabeth, in the mean time, begins to see Darcy in new light. She sees the wonderful husband he is (or had been), the respectable landlord and powerful man that he truly is. Slowly, after a whole set of unspoken misunderstandings and assumptions by both parties are sorted out one by one, Darcy and Elizabeth admit their mutual feelings of love and respect for each other. This time Elizabeth using all the words that Jane Austen had Darcy use! And soon they loved and lived happily every after!
It seemed a little melodramatic, Elizabeth's reactions to Darcy. But with him I can find no fault! Reynold's may have not given full credit to Elizabeth's sensibility as Austen would've liked, but she does deal with the character in a believable manner. There is depth and perception. There are moments that my spine tingled, and my fingers trembled, as they do every time I read P & P, so it is safe to say this is definitely one of the best P & P companion novels I've read so far!
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