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MR. DARCY’S DAUGHTERS

Name: MR. DARCY’S DAUGHTERS
Author: Elizabeth Aston
ISBN: 0-7432-4397-8

by Elizabeth Aston ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2003

Silly stuff but enjoyable now and then: a bit like cotton candy at the fair.

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Another Jane Austen spin-off, this time about the escapades of the imagined daughters of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy.

Off to Constantinople on a diplomatic assignment, Mr. and Mrs. Darcy decide to send their five daughters to London for the year, under the care of their cousins, the Fitzwilliams. Mr. Fitzwilliam intends to keep the girls under strict scrutiny, but his charming (and much younger) wife Fanny has grand plans for the five heiresses: the London season has just begun, and perhaps husbands can be caught, at least for the two eldest. Letty, at 21, is the beauty of the family, though she also has a dour, moralizing nature. At 17, twins Georgina and Belle (nicknamed by their ardent admirers “Night” and “Day”) care for nothing but fashion, flirting, and beaux, while youngest daughter Alethea, headstrong and wild, is devoted to her music. It’s 19-year-old Camilla who emerges as heroine, not quite so pretty as her sisters, but, in Austen tradition, much the wisest and most appealing. No sooner do all arrive in London than scandal rears its head—indeed, by end, potential disgrace threatens each of the girls. To begin, Letty’s fiancé, thought killed in the war three years ago, has suddenly turned up—married to a Belgian lady. Sensible Camilla finds herself engaged to Sir Sidney, who is discovered not only to have remarkable taste in lady’s frocks, but a penchant for handsome young men. The engagement is off, and Camilla heartbroken, but there’s plenty to distract her—balls to attend, relatives to avoid, four sisters to shield from ruin. For all its predictability, there is a comforting charm in revisiting this simpler world, where a misunderstood glance can turn the plot. Thankfully, it turns finally in Miss Camilla’s favor, and she of the sharp tongue and unladylike ways takes the prize.

Silly stuff but enjoyable now and then: a bit like cotton candy at the fair.

Pub Date: May 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-7432-4397-8

Page Count: 368

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2003

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.

Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-609-60737-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.