2021 alternate-history novel, fanfic of the Brontës' Gondal, among
others. Every puissant prince must be in want of a wife.
Well, yes. This series starts off by dropping characters from the
BBC SHerlock into the political and geographical setup of Gondal,
and this is the book that also blends in Pride and Prejudice..
It also relies on one's having read the 20-odd stories in the series
to date, at least in terms of who the existing characters are and what
they're up to: King Mycroft of Gaaldine, his brother the Crown Prince
Sherlock, his wife Charis the true heir of Gondal, James Moriarty the
Pretender on the throne of Gondal, John Watson the Royal Physician…
you get the idea, but by this point they've developed rather from
their prototypes in other hands. The other works range from short
stories up to novella length, and I don't intend to review them
individually; this is the substantial novel.
Well, it has a lot to do: hitting the high points of Pride &
Prejudice, but also tying that plot into the politics of Gondal and
an incipient war, not to mention various manoeuvreings (often by women
whom nobody had thought significant). But unlike writers and
filmmakers who want to turn Pride & Prejudice into a story of
falling in lust, this version always reminds one of the possibility of
reputational ruin hanging in the background should a woman put a foot
more than trivially wrong. (Austen didn't need to say that, because
it was baked into her mindset and that of her intended audience.)
The marriage of Lydia Duplessis to George Wickham passed off as well
as Darcy had hoped it would: that is, the bride looked ecstatic and
the groom looked present.
There are perhaps too many characters here, because many return from
the stories, the cast of Pride & Prejudice have to be introduced,
and there's even a silly-looking little priest. But they work
individually and collectively, and I had relatively little trouble
keeping them straight. The good people are not just declared Good
because Wardrobe issued them with a white hat; it shows in everything
they do—and similarly the bad.
Hall had planned at least two more instalments after this, but died
before she was able to finish the work. What there is is all at
ao3 and her own
site.
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