The Truth About Family Cover Reveal & Bonus Scenes

I always love finally being able to tell people about a new book! It takes month (and months and months—haha) of work before I can talk to a selected handful of people about what I’m working on, and it’s tough to keep quiet. Today, I’m pleased to introduce you to The Truth About Family. Be sure to comment for a chance to win one of three e-books of it! (The contest is open worldwide.)

The root of my inspiration is from the trope in which Elizabeth is not a Bennet. She often ends up discovering she’s related to people from the upper echelons of society, which is great fun (especially when Darcy has to realise the woman he once thought of as his social inferior is actually his superior!). In The Truth About Family, Elizabeth is a Bennet, but, and this is where it gets interesting, she doesn’t grow up at Longbourn. Instead, when she is five years old, she goes to live with the dowager countess of Romsley, a distant relation and dear childhood friend of her paternal grandmother. The dowager just happens to be the mother of Lady Anne Darcy, so our dear boy and our dear girl meet much earlier than they do in canon.

I have some bonus material to share with you, but before we get to it, let’s take a look at the cover, shall we? It was designed by Penny Dreadful Book Covers, and I just love it. It fits the story so well, and I believe you’ll agree if you give my latest darling a read. Drumroll please…

There are two reasons I adore it for The Truth About Family.

First, the colours. It is slightly dark but not overly so. The story is absolutely serious, and I have once again managed to put Elizabeth in a difficult situation, so the slight sombreness works well in that regard. On the other hand, it is by no means a book without any alleviation of the sadness. In particular, and without giving anything away, I managed to make myself fall a little in love with Colonel Fitzwilliam and his older brother,  Viscount Bramwell.

Second, Elizabeth as the sole figure. There are two reasons this really fits so perfectly with the story. Elizabeth feels alone at times (and part of her personal growth is recognising that she isn’t), and part of her path is her demanding the right to make decisions for herself, i.e., be an independent woman (within the context of her society). Both of these will make more sense once you read the book (if you do, and obviously, I hope you will).

On to the bonus material! The first three chapters are being released on Book Funnel so you can read them and decide if you are interested in the book. Because of that, I decided to make this first post twin scenes that ended up being cut along the way. They take place at the time the decision is made to send Elizabeth away from Longbourn. As I said above, Elizabeth is five, making Darcy twelve.

One quick note: During the book, Elizabeth has a flashback to the walk with her father; it is not exactly the same as what is here, but I decided to leave it as it was originally written. In the part with Darcy, Tom is Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Sterling is Viscount Bramwell.

Longbourn, Hertfordshire, 1795

Elizabeth was very excited. Her papa was leaving aside his work to take her for a walk. She loved to be in the open air. There was always something new to discover.

“The leaves on that beech tree are every so many more now. Do you remember? Last time they were so much smaller.” She tugged his hand to pull him closer to it.

A few minutes later, she tried to sneak up on a bird she saw land in a shrub, but before she got a good look at it, it had flown away.

“What was it? I do not think it was a sparrow.” She looked up at her father. He always answered her questions—unlike Mama who yelled at her and called her nasty names, like ‘unnatural child,’ just because she was curious.

He pinched one of her chubby cheeks. “It might have been a flycatcher.” He pointed towards a wooden bench. “Let us sit for a moment. There is something I must tell you.”

Elizabeth sat and swung her legs back and forth. The motion became slower as he spoke.

Staring into the distance, she said, “You are sending me away?”

“This will be better for you, Lizzy. You will be someplace where you are not… Grandmama has arranged this opportunity for you. Her third cousin, Lady Romsley, lives at a great estate, one much larger than Longbourn. You will like it there. Yes, it is a great opportunity.” He placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. She did not go willingly, although she usually loved to cuddle with her father.

Elizabeth remained silent. Her father and grandmother often said she was very intelligent for a girl of her age, but she could not understand what he had said. She was going to live some place else? They no longer wanted her, just like her mother?

“We shall write to each other,” her father said. “You are getting quite good at writing. This is not forever.”

Her chin began to quiver, and her voice was small when she begged, “Please, Papa, no. I do not want to go away. I want to stay at Longbourn with you and Jane and Mary and Kitty and the new kittens.”

“Lizzy, Lizzy,” he said before she could go on. “This is a good thing. You will be away from Mama.”

Her brow furrowed, and she kicked the air. “This is because Mama hates me! I do not make her angry on purpose. It is hard to always have so many questions. I have to ask them. Is it wrong of me to want to know why tree leaves are green and not blue?”

“Your mother does not hate you.”

She continued, “Is it because Mama is going to have a baby again? I have prayed and prayed that this time nothing goes wrong and it is a boy. I know that is important because of the something tail.” No one had told her that her mother was increasing, but the clues were easy to spot if you looked for them.

“What do you mean? How do you know?”

Indifferent to the tears that fell down her face, Elizabeth turned to him and explained, “Because when Mama is increasing, she becomes even more angry with me, and Mrs Hill is forever bringing her toast and awful smelling tea, and Mama sleeps more and more. And then, if it comes to nothing, she is sad and that makes her hate me even more. Do you think Mama would hate me less if she had a son?”

“How do you know these things, Child?”

Elizabeth shrugged. “I just do. I cried, too, last year when she was sick and then no longer going to have a baby. Jane does not understand. I tried to tell her, but she said we could not know, but I did. I am right, am I not, Papa?”

Her father sighed and kissed the top of her head.

Elizabeth hung her head and covered her face with her hands. “You are sending me away because I was not born a boy and because Mama hates me for it, even though it is not my fault. Now you do not want me either, and I must leave my home!”

She stood and ran back to the house.

***

In his room at Eton, Fitzwilliam Darcy stared at the two letters in his hand, one from each of his parents. He did not understand why they always failed to combine their letters, but they would have to talk to each other enough to know the other intended to write for that to happen. Which should he read first? He settled on his mother’s, knowing he would enjoy the one from his father more.

After the usual remarks and exhortations to remember he was the grandson of an earl, she shared some remarkable news about a little girl he had never heard about before going to stay at Romsley Hall with his grandmother, perhaps for as long as a year.

She is the daughter of a distant relation. Your grandmother says this relation’s son made an unequal marriage, and like all such matches, it is unhappy.

Darcy snorted. His parents’ marriage was just the sort of eligible match he was expected to make, with fortune and birth on both sides, and they did not appear to like each other very much. When it was his time to find a wife, he would look for something more than just fortune and birth; he did not intend to regret the choice he made.

The child’s mother dislikes her, though I do not know why, and it causes the woman great agitation. They hope that with the girl absent, the woman will bear a son to inherit the estate, which is entailed. For some reason I do not understand, your grandmother has decided to extend her charity to the girl. Let me not give you a false impression of her. I wrote estate, but it is small and not prosperous.

The child might come to Pemberley with my mother this summer. If she does, you will meet her. Remember that she is not family, and she is not your equal. She is a charity case, little better than a waif, an object of pity, perhaps, but nothing more. As your grandfather always said, there is nothing such people will not do to improve their situation in life. People in her position are worse than servants, who at least know their place. You cannot trust people like this Elizabeth Bennet. It is better for everyone to stay with their own kind and not seek to align themselves with those outside the sphere into which they were born. You can trust your family above all others. That is why your marriage to your cousin Anne will be in your best interest, as well as hers.

Darcy rolled his eyes. He was many years away from thinking about marriage, and although his mother and her sister, Lady Catherine, often spoke about him and his cousin uniting Pemberley and the de Bourgh estate, his father had no such notion in mind, to Darcy’s immense relief. His father talked to him about it being his responsibility to make a good match but assured him he should not feel himself bound by his mother’s daydream.

Darcy picked up his father’s letter, which contained the same news.

I do not pretend to understand the reasons it is better for the girl, Elizabeth, to be removed from her home, but your grandmother would not take part in such a scheme if she did not believe it important. I must say, your grandmother sounded quite excited by the prospect when we saw her recently. She talked about hiring a governess and having rooms prepared for little Elizabeth. Your aunt and uncle Romsley raised no objection. Elizabeth will be in the dower house not the manor, yet I am sure they will be pleased to have a child nearby—a little girl especially, since they only had sons.  

I trust my nephews are keeping out of mischief. I jest, as you know. They are good lads, and I am glad the three of you are there together. I do not forget George, of course. It must be gratifying to have him at school with you. I know my time at Eton was much happier for having your uncle Romsley always with me and, in time, my brother. Tell my godson to write me. It has been too long since I heard from him, and Wickham says that he has not had a letter for above a fortnight.

Darcy’s cousin Sterling ran into the room.

“Tom and George are arguing. Come on. Let us see if we can stop them before they both get into trouble.”

Darcy tucked the letters under his pillow. He would return to them later.

That’s it! The Truth About Family is available for pre-order. The official release date is 9 January. It will be available in e-book, paperback, and audiobook formats. (I’m not sure when the audiobook will be available.) 

I’ll be back early next month with an excerpt. Remember that the first few chapters will be released on Book Funnel. Comment to enter the draw for an e-book!

Thanks for reading!

Lucy