Merryn (Cousins of Pemberley #5) by Linda O'Byrne
Genre: Historical fiction, Regency romance, Victorian era
Read: 23rd June 2023
Published: 22nd June 2023
★★★★★ 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.
When a young woman is the recipient of a great fortune, her life can become difficult.
Lady Merryn Bowyer has many problems - learning how to behave in society, dealing with relatives who hate her and men who wish to marry her!
Can she learn to trust, find a way to survive, to love?
Luckily Merryn has two advantages - strength of character, inherited from her formidable grandmother, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and a reckless, dare-devil cousin, Bennetta Darcy.
MY THOUGHTS:
Having now read all five of the Cousins of Pemberley series, I have to say that I think MERRYN is my favourite. I love them all but this one is so far removed from the others in the sense that Merryn is not exactly a direct cousin but a distant one of Mr Darcy's and the storyline was straight out of the Bronte sisters' Gothic style in setting and some of its dastardly characters.
Lady Merryn is the orphaned daughter of Lady Anne de Bourgh, daughter of Lady Catherine de Bourgh who is the cousin of Mr Darcy, and Rex Bowyer. Her mother never recovered from her birth and thus died afterwhich her father got himself into gambling debt and was killed in a duel, leaving the very young Lady Merryn an orphan and in the charge of her irascible grandfather Lord Bowyer. But just looking at the child was like looking at his favourite son and so therefore he banished her to the other side of the Raindown estate to live with an elderly aunt in Wisteria House.
But the time has come when the old earl has passed and the new one, his younger son Ralph and wife Lady Eugenie, have taken his place in the sprawling Raindown Hall. Ralph has been in control of Lady Merryn's inheritance, left to her by her grandmother Lady Catherine, which has been held in trust for until she comes of age which is in just a few short weeks. However, Ralph and Eugenie have nefarious plans for their young niece whose fortune is at their fingertips.
Lady Merryn has never known life beyond the sprawling Devonshire estate upon which she has lived for most of her life. She grew up climbing trees alongside her friend, Jacob Mallory, son of the Reverend Mallory and she had never been out in society. In fact, the late Earl had made it known that she was of a simple mind and a rather stupid girl and Lady Merryn played along with that notion in letting people think she was of feeble mind. But secretly she sat at the back of the Reverend Mallory's classes as he taught the local boys and she educated herself through those lessons and in reading books from her uncle's vast library. No, Lady Merryn was anything but simple.
Ryder Mallory is a writer and learned man who has the new Earl's permission to use the library for his research when a young woman climbs through the window, her feet in search of the ladder rung that is no longer there. Ryder is quick to catch her before she falls but Lady Merryn is far from grateful. In fact she is incensed that her ladder, which she keeps in place under that very window for that particular purpose, had been moved. This is the second time Ryder has caught the young Lady Merryn...the first being when she was ten and fell out of an apple tree, dressed in his nephew's breeches. But before him now stands a young woman far removed from that ten year old girl.
As these stories go, it isn't long before Ryder develops feelings for the young Lady Merryn, and vice versa. But as these stories go, both deny their attraction and refuse to the bridge the gap between their classes which would be frowned upon in society...despite Lady Merryn never having been out in society. But then her aunt's cousins who come to stay, Stephen and Elinor, and keep a tight leash on Lady Merryn that she is unable to run free as she has always been used to. But it's when Elinor informs Lady Merryn of Ryder's dubious past as a fortune hunter, Lady Merryn wonders is she being taken for a fool. Is Ryder only after her inheritance?
Meanwhile, Lady Merryn's lady's maid Grace Frost (whom we have met in past books) is concerned that something isn't right and when she finds an envelope addressed to Merryn in Lady Eugenie's rooms, she is sure Lady Merryn had never received such a missive. She decides to pen a letter to Benetta Darcy outlining her concerns and asking for help. Things get a lot more interesting when Benetta, whom I adore and have loved seeing her in every book, turns up unannounced at Raindown Hall. And she arrives just in the nick of time, it seems. But alas, things go awry in keeping the two cousins from returning to London as is their plan. Is it just coincidence or is someone ensuring that they remain at Raindown?
MERRYN is so in depth it's like reading a Gothic novel complete with dastardly characters with sinister intentions whilst still maintaining that light easy style the series has. It goes without saying we all know where the story is headed and pretty much how it will end up but that's half the fun. The sweeping landscape of Devon is vastly different from that of Derbyshire, the busyness of London and even the cold climes of Northumberland. And I love how each of the stories tie in together, continuing seamlessly from one to the next. We get updates of the previous couples from the previous books but the main constant throughout is Elizabeth, Mr Darcy and Benetta Darcy. I admit, that every time Mr Darcy features I see Laurence Olivier and can even hear him in my head. Given that the first "Pride and Prejudice" I had seen (and one I've seen more than once) is the one featuring Laurence Olivier as Mr Darcy and Greer Garson as Elizabeth.
However, that aside, the Darcys of Pemberley are the main constant of this series and while we have seen Jane married off, Anne is the next obvious choice but I would love to see Benetta's story. And what man would be a match for our delightful firecracker! But in saying that, I see "Beth" is the next book in the series. She is one we have not seen or heard from before, though she is briefly mentioned in this book in passing as coming of age later in the year. She is the daughter of Jane Bingley, the only Bennet daughter whose daughter has not featured in the series yet. Like all the books in this series, I look forward to reading "Beth" when it is out later this year but I long for Benetta's story to be told. And I'm guessing I'm not the only one.
A delightfully fun read as with all in the Cousins of Pemberley series, MERRYN is pure escapism at its best and has the easy gentle pace that I love of this type of book. A must for Austen fans and those of "Pride of Prejudice".
I would like to thank #LindaOByrne, #SpellboundBooks and #ZoolooTours for an ARC of #Merryn in exchange for an honest review.
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.
Social Media links:
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