Darcy's Voyage: A Tale of Uncharted Love on the Open Seas

Louise sends Darcy to sea in this perfunctory addition to the Austen-revisited industry. When Darcy meets an ailing Elizabeth Bennet on the deck of Pemberley's Promise, he offers a strange proposal: marry him so that she will be allowed to share his private cabin for her recovery. Upon their return to England, they can have the marriage annulled. She accedes reluctantly, and soon finds herself falling in love with Darcy, and he with her. Later separated but aware of their true feelings, they desperately try to find each other again, returning to familiar aspects of the original narrative. While Louise is clearly a fan of the original, her work doesn't do it justice, reading like a mishmash of Austenian prose and improbable plot machinations. While the presence of Bennet, Darcy, Wickham, and others may comfort readers, this outing delivers nothing new. (Sept.)