Friday 29 August 2014

Attempting Elizabeth Review


Jessica Grey has created one of the most imaginative Jane Austen-inspired stories I have ever come across.  Kelsey Edmundson is an English major with a major crush on Pride and Prejudice’s Mr. Darcy.  Her real-life love-life is nothing like Regency England.  Her boyfriends all seem more “Wickhamy” than Darcy-like.  When she meets a good-looking Australian named Mark at a night club, she can’t seem to say anything right and ends up insulting him.  When he shows up at her house the next morning, she is still in her pajamas with a hangover.
                After agreeing to hike with Mark and some friends, she falls asleep rereading her favourite novel only to wake up as Georgiana Darcy just before Wickham proposes.  In something similar to Groundhog Day, Kelsey keeps messing up as Georgiana and has to relive the day over and over. 
                Without adding spoilers, I have to say the Grey doesn’t stop there.  This story continually surprised me with its twists and turns.  I loved all of the pop-culture references and Regency details.  If you enjoy Jane Austen and the fan fiction which has been inspired by her work, you do not want to miss this book.  I especially liked how Grey related things that happened to Kelsey in Pride and Prejudice to what is happening in her regular life.  Grey has a talent for dialogue and for making fantasy seem possible.  It would make a lovely movie.