Cassandra (Cousins of Pemberley #1) by Linda O'Byrne
Genre: Historical fiction, Regency romance
Read: 17th June 2023
Published: 23rd December 2021
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Many years have passed since the dramatic events of Pride and Prejudice.
In The Cousins of Pemberley series we follow a new generation of heroines - cousins with lives as different and interesting as those enjoyed by their mothers.
Cassandra Wickham, daughter of a flirt and a scoundrel, an innocent abroad in a world where money can buy you anything, even a bride.
When danger threatens and the man she thought she could rely on fails her, there is only one place she can turn to
for help -
Pemberley.
Surely the Darcy's will protect her, no matter what happened in the past to divide the two families?
MY THOUGHTS:
Fans of "Pride and Prejudice" will simply delight in this expansion on the Bennet family in the form of the sisters' children, thus the cousins of Pemberley. The first of these novels to come to my attention was actually the third in this series "Miriam" which I read last year and thoroughly enjoyed that I simply HAD to get my hands on the first two. But as time went on, the fell further down my TBR list...until the tours came up for books four and five...and I knew I had to go back to the beginning before forging on with the latest two.
Cassandra Wickham is the daughter of the youngest Bennet sisters, the flighty young Lydia who had a torrid affair with a groundsman and ran off to marry him. And thus producing Cassandra. However, when Cassandra was 8 her father, a military man, was killed in India leaving her mother in a flair of hysterics before rather hastily moving on to marry Colonel Allerton four months later.
Now, Cassandra is 18 and her mother is preparing her daughter like a lamb to the slaughter for the Regimental Ball where she hopes to find a husband for her. But Cassandra has no thoughts of marriage with any of the men on offer. Her stepfather, however, has other ideas. And whilst she is in the garden taking a breath of fresh air, she hears the Colonel offer to sell her to the highest bidder. Without a second thought, Cassandra steals herself home where she packs a bag and disappears in the night leaving a letter for her mother telling her not to worry.
She flees to Pemberley and to the safe confines of her Aunt Elizabeth Darcy...only to find that the Darcys are away and only the youngest, fifteen year old Bennetta, is in residence. But Bennetta, bored and looking for adventure, is only to happy to take in the drenched Cassandra that the young footman mistook for a beggar. Cassandra confides in her young cousin the conversation she overheard and, fearing her stepfather will come looking for her, they hatch a plan to bide their time until Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Darcy return.
However, fate intervenes when a blizzard scuppers their carefully laid plans leaving Bennetta injured and unconscious and Cassandra delirious from fever in the house of the respected Dr Richard Courtney. As the good doctor knows that her stepfather is currently in London searching for his runaway charge, will he throw her to the wolves and inform him of her whereabouts? After all, he is unaware of the bidding war the Colonel had with one of his cronies to sell the girl off to. And when Cassandra finally awakes, she begs the doctor to refrain from telling her parents...but is she too late? And why has her Aunt and Uncle Darcy not come to rescue her? Surely they have returned by now and Bennetta has informed them of her circumstances. But maybe in that she has her answer. Maybe the Darcys want nothing to do with Lydia's runaway daughter and the mess she has surely brought to their door. Maybe she should just resign herself to her fate.
I absolutely loved this regency tale of love, lies and deception. Also the added adventure orchestrated by young Bennetta who is an absolute delight! I can't wait for her story! Please tell me there will be one, cause it will be a cracker of a read. CASSANDRA is a delightfully quick read at just 210 pages and I could have easily devoured it in one sitting (had I not needed sleep).
The cousins of Pemberley is a brilliant and wonderful concept for a series. Linda O'Byrne has harnessed the idea and run with it with great success. She has built on the existing characters of "Pride and Prejudice" in the Bennet sisters and has thus extended beyond them to their own offspring, therefore creating a whole new generation from them. And she captured the spirit of the whole era and that of the original story.
As much as I adore Jane Austen adapted to the screen I find her books very difficult to read so I find this series, whilst being an honourary nod to Ms Austen, it is far easier to read and far less wordy than Austen's own works. Having said that, anyone who loves "Pride and Prejudice" (or Jane Austen for that matter) is bound to enjoy this series.
And on that note, I am off to dive into Book Two of the Cousins of Pemberley series - "Catherine" - daughter of William and the late Charlotte Collins, who was Elizabeth's closest friend. I fear (from what I read in this book) that I will not warm to Catherine's father.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
I have been writing all my life in the time I could spare from having a “proper job”, mostly for children under the name of Linda Blake, stories of ballet dancers, pony riding and talking animals! Not all in the same book!
But my love of romance, a great tendency to say “What if..?” and the endearing characters of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice have now resulted in a series of books that will take the reader forward to the next generation of heroines.
I am retired, live in Kent and am a keen member of my local drama group. Directing and acting take up a lot of my time - I have been given the onerous task of writing the Christmas pantomimes - but I still need to cope with a large garden, doing daily battle with the heron who thinks my pond is his own breakfast buffet and keeping in touch with friends and family scattered all over the world.
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