Today’s the day! “Worthy” is live at last, and I can finally share my new variation on Pride and Prejudice. This one is a departure from the events of Jane Austen’s book – except in one particular, and that’s George Wickham’s attempt to elope from Ramsgate with Georgiana Darcy. Departures from canon Pride and Prejudice means the introduction of quite a few original characters, and while favourites such as Jane Bennet, Mr Collins, and the Bingleys appear, their stories do deviate from the one we know and love. Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy meet in different circumstances, but their story is full of familiar misunderstandings and misapprehensions about each other that give them as rocky a road to happiness as Miss Austen depicted in her masterpiece.

Here’s a bit more about it all. I hope you enjoy it!

About The Book

In the course of 1811, the Bennets of Longbourn meet two sets of estranged relatives: Mr Bennet’s unprepossessing heir, and his mother’s family. Elizabeth Bennet journeys into Kent to stay with the Palmers at Wingham Hall: her grand-aunt Iphigenia, her cousin Sir James Palmer, who had loved her grandmother ardently in his youth, and his son Galahad. Pleased with her new relations, Elizabeth is less content with the taciturn friend Galahad has invited to join him at Wingham. Fitzwilliam Darcy—rich and proud, disdainful of those beneath him—has escorted his sister Georgiana to Ramsgate, to recuperate from a dangerous illness in the care of her companion, Mrs Younge.

Complications arise with the arrival of Elizabeth’s sister Jane and, separately, Charles and Caroline Bingley, the authors of Jane’s unhappiness. Tensions and quarrels result in the Bingleys’ abrupt departure, swiftly followed by Darcy after a maladroit proposal that Elizabeth spurns with a pride that matches his own.

Unfortunately, Darcy leaves Kent just as his enemy, George Wickham appears, intent on securing Georgiana and her fortune. Who will stand between Georgiana and ruin? Who will win Jane Bennet’s hand? And can Darcy and Elizabeth ever be reconciled?”

(NB British spelling, punctuation and grammar throughout).

.

Title: Worthy
Author: Julia Winter
Wordcount: c125,000
Category: P&P variation, Regency romance.
eBook Publication Date: 31 October 2023
Publisher: Glass Hat Press © 2023
Editor: Megan Reddaway
Cover: Detail from a portrait by Eugen von Blaas. Provenance and whereabouts unknown. Image in the public domain, obtained via ArtVee, and available for unrestricted use.
Goodreads Link

Buy Links

Universal link to digital stores: https://books2read.com/Worthy-A-Pride-and-Prejudice-Variation

Individual Store Links (if you prefer them): Amazon.com  |  Amazon.co.uk  |  B&N  |  Kobo  |  Smashwords

Giveaway

Between 31 October and 10 November, enter this Rafflecopter for the chance to win a $20 (or equivalent) Amazon voucher.

Direct link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/1b5565292/?

Blog Tour

I’ll be popping up at several blogs in the next few days, talking about different aspects of the book:

31 October      Interests of a Jane Austen Girl, where there’s a deleted scene to enjoy

01 November  My Jane Austen Book Club, where I’m being interviewed about the book

02 November  From Pemberley to Milton, with a short article about my original characters and their connection to Jane Austen herself

03 November  So Little Time, So Much To Read, with another deleted scene.

Do drop in to the blogs! It’s always great fun to visit them, and they do so much to support writers.

Excerpt

Gerrard Andrewes, dean of the cathedral, was an undoubted gentleman, urbane and intelligent. Like Palmer and Darcy, he had taken his degree at Cambridge. That gave them common ground in the pre-dinner conversations, and the dinner itself had been, as Palmer had promised, excellent. Darcy had enjoyed the dinner, despite finding himself escorting the dean’s eldest daughter into the dining room. She was an educated lady, and his struggles to find topics of conversation were less overwhelming than usual.

The reception, however, was something to be endured.

An hour after dinner ended, the guests for the evening reception arrived. The dining table had been cleared and relaid for a supper to be served at around ten. The deanery staff had thrown open all the doors into the spacious grounds, where gardeners had hung dozens of lanterns from the trees. The lanterns lit a dusky purple twilight, casting shadows under the scattered trees and, here and there, illuminating the heavy-headed roses filling the gardens with their rich scent: a demure, ecclesiastical version of Vauxhall, with more lemonade and far less impropriety.

A charming scene, if one did not consider the guests who, while not of the meaner sort, were also not of Darcy’s usual circle. Gentry, yes, but none held estates and incomes that could compare with Pemberley. Or Wingham. He privately acknowledged they at least had made an attempt at refinement. The ladies’ dresses were as fashionable and decorative as a provincial city could provide, but, with the exception of the dean’s silk-clad family, predominantly of mull or jaconet, and with few feathers and even less good jewellery on display. The sparkling rivière clasped about the neck of the most gorgeously-attired damsel there was certainly paste.

Palmer knew many of the gentry, and tugged Darcy along with him to make their acquaintance. It was some moments before Darcy was able to drift away and take up station in the shadows of a rose arch, from whence he could scrutinise the crowds and catch his breath. Only a country assembly could be more insupportable. Here he would have to listen to innumerable young ladies warbling Italian love songs—one was already at the piano, if the sounds coming from the open music-room windows were any indication—but at least he did not have to dance.

His respite did not last long. Palmer sought him out and with his usual raillery, attempted to persuade him into more sociability.

“Come! Have you not hidden in the shadows long enough? Surely you wish for more conversation than this!”

“Here? It would be punishment.”

Palmer would have none of this, pointing out a nearby group and claiming one of them to be an acquaintance of his father’s. He spoke with enthusiasm of the young lady in the group, declaring her to be a very pretty girl.

“Whom do you mean?” Darcy turned and regarded the small group gathered in chairs near a magnificent weeping willow. The girl Palmer admired was simply dressed and had no claim to extraordinary beauty. He had no doubt her conversation would be as unremarkable and as insipid as her appearance. He did not trouble to lower his voice. “Pretty-ish, I suppose, but hardly tempting enough for me to give consequence to a provincial nobody.”

And so Darcy manages to shove his Hessian down his throat, and offend Elizabeth. Just as in canon, we shall have to hope he proves himself worthy of both her forgiveness and her regard.

Will he do it? Read Worthy to find out!