by Marsha Altman
Genre: Romance, Fan-Fiction
Ages: 14 and up
Sequel to The Darcys and the Bingleys
This book is considerably darker than the first one, but it has you laughing soon enough at the "colorful" antics of Georgie Bingley and Geoffrey Darcy. (One should never leave the children alone with the menfolk, it can get messy.) Once again, Ms. Altman's wonderful sense of humor keeps you laughing even when the Darcy family faces its most difficult times.
The Plight of the Darcy Brothers begins on a sad note, Elizabeth has just miscarried for a second time. Both she and Darcy are heartbroken, but society dictates that they pretend that nothing happened. Distraction from their grief arrives in the form of a mysterious letter from Mary Bennet, who has been abroad on the Continent. Her missive requests that Jane come to Brighton alone to meet her. Elizabeth, of course, decides to come along, and so the two sisters leave their husbands in charge of the children. Both Elizabeth and Jane are shocked when Mary reveals that she is pregnant. The father is a young Italian who claims he cannot marry her, and so Elizabeth and Darcy embark on a journey to find this young man and make him do the right thing by Mary and the child. Their trip leads to unexpected places, and Darcy discovers things about his family that he had never even dreamed of before.
While this book is not as bright and cheerful as The Darcys and the Bingleys, it delves deeper into the emotions and personalities of the characters, especially Darcy. I can hardly wait to see what happens next in this beautifully written series!
There is no profanity in this novel, but a less-than-polite term for one of illegitimate birth is used several times, and a couple of women are called (or call themselves) a rude name, so I give it a 5.10.
There are some sexual references, as well as a pervading theme of illegitimacy, and a prostitute plays a major role in the plot, so it rates a 6.10.
There is one scene of bloody violence and one of the characters is a flagellant, so it gets a 6.10.
Lieder Madchen
I really enjoyed Altman's books. She really makes the characters her own. The next book, Mr. Darcy's Great Escape, is even darker than this one with less humor, but I still enjoyed it.
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