Way back in 2011, I read the first and third books of the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy. This was mainly because I couldn’t get my hands on the middle book at the time, but also because I had read that the middle book was skip-able. I did keep it on my wishlist, and a copy came my way late last year. And, it really is skip-able.
This book covers the time in Pride and Prejudice between when Darcy leaves Netherfield after the ball (when Bingley’s sisters also convince Bingley to go away), and when Darcy goes to Rosings to see Elizabeth. The author takes the opportunity to send Darcy to a country house party that turns into a bit of a Gothic mystery. I think it’s also supposed to illustrate to Darcy that the women of his class aren’t really all they’re cracked up to be.
The book’s not a bad story exactly, but Darcy really does all his growing as a person after Elizabeth rejects his first proposal, and that happens in the last book of the series. I suppose, if you manage to work your pet Gothic romance into a trilogy that otherwise wouldn’t have one, and get paid for it, good on you. It’s just a little odd, in the middle of what is otherwise one of the better Pride and Prejudice adaptations I’ve read.