Yes, it’s an exciting new Austen Variations group writing project! Our Untold Stories retelling of Pride & Prejudice in real time has been so popular that we decided to do another group retelling – but with a twist. P&P: Prelude to Pemberley starts next week and will retell the story of the year leading up to the beginning of Pride & Prejudice. What were Darcy and Elizabeth were doing and thinking? Why was Georgiana Darcy taken from school, and what really happened at Ramsgate? How did Mr. Bingley came to lease Netherfield? And much more! Our Austen Variations authors will post our take on the events of 1811 in real time on the date they happened – 214 years in the future.
It’ll be a little different from our previous retellings because we don’t know as much about what happens before Netherfield Park is let at last. But the text of Pride & Prejudice does give us some tantalizing hints, and we’ve had some exciting discussions about what actually happened then. Georgiana Darcy’s story has been particularly interesting to look at as we’ve analyzed the time frame, and we’ll be telling you more about what we’ve discovered as time goes on. It’s made me realize how much my view of Georgiana was colored by the adaptations, and that’s been exciting to rethink!
I’ll be back next week for the first scene in Prelude to Pemberley, and more scenes will come almost every week, often (but not always) on Wednesdays. We hope you’ll join us on this journey – and I’d love to hear your thoughts about it!
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Looking forward to reading it.
I can’t wait to read your opinions of these events!
Author
I’ll admit to being a bit nervous about how it will be received, since I think the adaptations have really colored our views of Georgiana, but I’m always excited to make new discoveries about the text of P&P!
Love the idea, and I am excited to read about the events!
I’m very happy you decided to start a new group writing project!
I’ve often realised that I’ve read so many P&P variations and have seen so many different TV/movie adaptations, that it’s hard to remember which information in my head is actually in the original book.
E.g. Colonel Fitzwilliam will always be Richard to me and I think I remember that Georgina doesn’t even have one line of dialogue in the original book, which is really unbelievable, because I know so well how she talks.
So I’m very curios what you will find out in your research. I’m just a little sad that ODC will never meet in this project.
Author
You never know! We’re still discussing how long to continue this story!
Sounds good! 😊
I love the idea of prequels and look forward to how you might present events prior to P&P’s beginning.
Hi Ree! I hope you will like it.
This sounds quite exciting. I look forward to this
Brilliant idea 🙂 there’s so much about Georgiana when you read deeply and extrapolate…. How exciting:)
We’ve been doing a lot of extrapolating. All carefully researched and thought out, of course. It’s very interesting to delve into what Jane Austen was subtly telling us, and what it means when she leaves things deliberately unsaid.
Thank you! I’m looking forward to the new stories; I am ALWAYS up for more Pride and Prejudice. Having a series of writings to look forward to is like having a stockpile of hoarded treasures to savor!
Author
I feel the same way – I look forward to every one!
I am looking forward to this!
Always a joy anything to do with P & P.
G
How exciting this is going to be!!
FAN-tastic. I await these installments like Mr Collins watching for Lady Catherine’s carriage, like Jane in London awaiting a reply from Bingley’s sisters, like Elizabeth awaiting a return letter from her Aunt M. Gardiner, like… well, you get the picture!
Author
So well put! I’m glad you enjoy them so.
Sounds very exciting and I’m so glad you’re covering the years leading up to the actual story of P and P that Jane Austin wrote.
I’m really looking forward to reading about all the events that happened!!
Author
One of the things we’ve realized is that we’re going to need to carry the story forward into the actual action of P&P to show how these events affected the early scenes. It’s really making me think about the story in a new way!
I do look forward to the next serial offerings, though I will likely wait for several to be done and read in groups this time. I ended up waiting after the first few and reading the entirety when completed.
Author
I encourage everyone to read in whatever method works for them. One of our goals in this project is to show the actual time passing between scenes, which can help us learn about the structure of Jane Austen’s book. Until I took part in a real-time P&P retelling, I never realized that Bingley and Jane had likely only met a dozen times before he left Netherfield, which has given me a new understanding of the book. But whatever works for you is good!
It’s good but Giorgiana would not have used the word ‘harridan’ about Lady Catherine
Author
Glad you’re enjoying it! One of the points I’m making here is that Georgiana isn’t being well-behaved and that her adolescent feelings are running away with her.
I am late to reading this series. Can someone tell me the date if the first installment?
When I pull up the site, the serial doesn’t show up in order if publication. I would like to start from the first date.
Thank you.
Hi Rick,
I believe the first scene can be found here: https://austenvariations.com/pp-prelude-to-pemberley-georgiana-darcy-has-a-request/
From there, you can click on “Read all…” and the posts will appear in reverse order, so you’ll just need to scroll down to the bottom of the page and read from bottom up.
Thanks!
Christina