Hello, my friends! For my stop on the My Mr. Darcy & Your Mr. Bingley Blog Tour, Linda Beutler stops by with a delightful guest post!
Be sure to read to the bottom of the post for giveaway details!
My Mr. Darcy & Your Mr. Bingley & Our Georgiana!
Thank you, Candy, for being the second stop on the My Mr. Darcy and Your Mr. Bingley blog tour, and giving me the opportunity to once again speak directly to the So Little Time… readers. My new novel first appeared as a posted story, “Your Mr. Bingley”, at A Happy Assembly. When it came time to publish, my editor agreed there was a dinner at Darcy House referred to in the story that should appear as its own fleshed-out chapter. That’s how I came to write this unique dinner party. I enlivened the intimate evening by following it from Georgiana’s point of view.
Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 8, Georgiana Darcy Observes Her Brother:
Thursday, 20 February 1812
Darcy House
…Darcy stood a few feet inside the front door, adjusting the sleeves of his blue coat. [Georgiana]She thought he looked like a discomfited young boy—all anxiety and awkwardness—and wondered why. She was not the sort of girl to question her brother, at least not aloud. She stood pondering him until he noticed her.
“What troubles you, my love?”
Georgiana emitted a startled giggle. “You! It is you who is troubled. Do our guests give you cause for worry?”
Darcy sighed. “I have not been forthcoming in all that I know about our guests.” The admission appeared to pain him.
“I suspected as much. You are no better at withholding all you know than you are at creating a deceit out of whole cloth.” She looked down to hide a small smile she knew would discompose him with its audacity.
Darcy cleared his throat and stood straighter. “Yes…well. The Gardiners are more than just a pleasant new acquaintance with connections in Lambton. I did mean what I said about that. But my childhood was so different from yours, and I feel it keenly that you may not hold Pemberley and its environs as dear as I do. I would have you hear more of Lambton, though perhaps it is not a necessity that you should. One day you will marry, and you could make a new family quite far from me or… or from Derbyshire. All the same, I believe you will enjoy Mrs. Gardiner and her recollections.”
“How can you say such a thing! I know I must come out one day and find a husband, but I love our home. What can you be thinking?” Georgiana drew her brother into the drawing room and closed the door. “And I have not considered leaving Derbyshire when I marry.” Hearing her own words and knowing that as recently as the past summer she had considered marrying and following a certain man blindly, she sputtered and went silent save for a blush that spoke much. Gathering her breath, she continued. “I…I mean now. Now that I have had some months for reflection, I believe I should like a husband who will not keep me forever in London, prefers the country, and has his own ties to Derbyshire.”
Darcy nodded. “I am eager to change the subject, if we might.” He seemed stern.
“Good.” Georgiana brightened. “What more need I know of these Gardiners?”
“I mentioned a Miss Elizabeth Bennet in a letter from Netherfield?”
“You did, and I replied I should like to meet her.”
“I do not know whether you will or not, but it is more certain that you may meet her elder sister, Miss Jane Bennet. Bingley is courting her, as I understand it.”
“He has returned to Netherfield without you?” Georgiana made a close study of her brother. He had seemed a little gayer as he introduced the topic of Elizabeth Bennet, but now his countenance lost its light at the mention of Charles Bingley. She recollected that her brother had not mentioned Mr. Bingley in some weeks. After having Bingley at hand throughout the festive season, it was indeed strange to suddenly recall his absence. “Is there some estrangement?” she blurted.
“Any breach is entirely my fault, and I am doing all I can to repair it.”
It was a confusing business to know how candid he would allow her to be. Georgiana shrugged and smiled. “To my benefit, it has spared me calls from Miss Bingley.” This sally met with no response. She trod another path. “Do you disapprove of Miss Bennet?”
“Of the eldest Miss Bennets, I shall say this: they are very pretty, high-spirited with little silliness, and disposed to be pleased with each other. One rarely encounters sisters so devoted and with so little rancour or competition between them.”
Georgiana thought her brother must be comparing these sisters to those of Mr. Bingley. “Ah, then I should like to meet them both!”
“Perhaps one day you will, should Bingley carry the day. But short of that, I can offer you the Gardiners. Mr. Gardiner is the brother of the Miss Bennets’ mother.” He paused. “He is a pleasant fellow, and I believe both sisters have been well influenced by their aunt and uncle.”
Georgiana detected there was still more to come and schooled herself to appear encouraging. Was feeding the Gardiners part of a rapprochement with Mr. Bingley?
“Mr. Gardiner is in trade,” Darcy explained. “It appears quite successfully so. Hence, we are a small party at dinner.”
“Is it this that makes you nervous? I hardly think you court scandal by entertaining a tradesman and his wife if they are well spoken and fashionable. I am told everyone is doing it.”
Darcy laughed abruptly. “I must confess that I was once determined not to like them, so there is less merit in my motives than you can suppose.”
“Not more? For your liberality?”
“No, simply that I am homesick for Pemberley.”
Writing Georgiana Darcy
In selecting this snippet, I’ve realized just how wide-ranging are the treatments of Georgiana Darcy throughout Jane Austen Fan Fiction. Jane Austen wrote her as a timid creature following her near disastrous encounter with George Wickham. The implication is that Georgiana was not always timid, and Darcy hopes (however unrealistically) that somehow she might be restored to her pre-Wickham cheer and innocence. We also know from Georgiana’s introduction to Elizabeth Bennet, that Darcy has spoken of Elizabeth.
In JAFF, that pre-knowledge of Elizabeth is treated in different ways. It seems a set feature of fanon (as opposed to canon) that Darcy has mentioned Elizabeth in letters from Netherfield. Further, Georgiana is written at times as nearly catatonic, without humor, and constantly in fear for her reputation—transferring her brother’s worries to herself—to such an extent she becomes merely an extra, like Anne de Bourgh. We assume she might not like Miss Bingley, as much for her gossiping as for her constant snide, gratuitous simpering.
I can never be pleased with a malicious Georgiana, either. I’m of the “give Georgiana some credit” school. She is, after all, a Darcy. We can choose to assume she is well educated (like her brother), is observant (like her brother), has a sly wit (like her brother), and is capable of deep, loyal affection (like her brother). Granted, she has made an “off stage” staggering error in judgement, but so does her brother in his dealings with Elizabeth Bennet. In the first half of Pride and Prejudice, Darcy has not realized his mistakes. Georgiana, in the same time period, has had time for reflection and healing from her misplaced trust.
If we buy into those assumptions—and I do!—we have a young woman devoted to her brother, but perhaps not blind to his faults. She has lived with relatives with a peerage, as well as families in the ton, so has perhaps formed opinions about how they treat those perceived as their betters or inferiors. She might have her own strong opinions, influenced by her brother’s reputed liberality. Georgiana will have seen the best and the worst of Darcy, no matter what he thinks he is withholding or revealing.
In chapter 8 of My Mr. Darcy and Your Mr. Bingley, Georgiana gets the chance to know her brother as a little boy through the remembrance of another. She observes the happily married Gardiners and sees Darcy’s regard for them. She witnesses her brother’s compulsion to encourage mentions of Elizabeth. Is it the pleasure of their company, the tie to his childhood, or their relationship to Elizabeth Bennet that holds his interest?
I’ll leave the readers at So Little Time… to judge for yourselves! But if those familiar with my other novels follow my several portrayals of Georgiana Darcy, they will see I hold her in high esteem as one who adores her brother warts and all (of course Mr. Darcy doesn’t have real warts, only figurative ones), and is hyper-aware of his emotional state at any given time in a profoundly sympathetic manner. She wants him to be happy, and if this Elizabeth Bennet—about whom she hears so much said—is the lady to guarantee it, Georgiana is ready to extend her every benefit of the doubt…and every encouragement!
Thanks again, Candy, for letting me natter on and for being a most generous hostess!
Linda, it was a pleasure to have you here! I enjoyed your thoughts on Georgiana!
Book Blurb:
Jane Bennet had a heart to break after all, and I am a party to it. —Fitzwilliam Darcy
One simple, uncharacteristic subterfuge leaves Fitzwilliam Darcy needing to apologize to nearly everyone he knows! When Charles Bingley reaps the sad repercussions of Mr. Darcy’s sin of omission, Elizabeth Bennet’s clear-eyed view of the facts gives her the upper hand in a long-distance battle of wills with Mr. Bingley’s former friend. By the time Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth meet (repeatedly) in the groves of Rosings Park, neither knows the whole truth except that somehow, someway, their future is inextricably linked to the courtship of Charles Bingley and Jane Bennet.
In this Pride and Prejudice “what-if”, the additional dash of backbone and “far-sighted” action to the character of Mr. Bingley begs the question: how is Mr. Darcy to impress Elizabeth Bennet if Bingley does his own matchmaking? And how is Elizabeth Bennet to trust Mr. Darcy when even faith in a most beloved sister falters?
Includes mature content
Buy: Amazon US • Amazon UK
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Author Biography
Linda Beutler’s professional life is spent in a garden, an organic garden housing America’s foremost public collection of clematis vines and a host of fabulous companion plants. Her home life reveals a more personal garden, still full of clematis, but also antique roses and vintage perennials planted around and over a 1907 cottage. But one can never have enough of gardening, so in 2011 she began cultivating a weedy patch of Jane Austen Fan Fiction ideas. The first of these to ripen was The Red Chrysanthemum (Meryton Press, 2013), which won a silver IPPY for romance writing in 2014. You might put this down as beginner’s luck—Linda certainly does. The next harvest brought Longbourn to London (Meryton Press, 2014), known widely as “the [too] sexy one”. In 2015 Meryton Press published the bestseller A Will of Iron, a macabre rom-com based on the surprising journals of Anne de Bourgh.
Now, after a year-long break in JAFF writing to produce Plant Lovers Guide to Clematis (Timber Press, 2016)—the third in a bouquet of books on gardening—we have My Mr. Darcy and Your Mr. Bingley bursting into bloom.
Connect with Linda Beutler
Tour Schedule
* * * GIVEAWAY * * *
It's giveaway time! Linda Beutler is generously giving away 8 e-copies of My Mr. Darcy & Your Mr. Bingley to 8 lucky winners! Enter through the Rafflecopter below.
- This is a group giveaway given by the blog tour.
- One e-copy of My Mr. Darcy & Your Mr. Bingley per winner.
- Eight different winners will be picked.
- Open Internationally
- Readers may enter the drawing by tweeting once a day and daily commenting on a blog post that has a giveaway attached for the tour. (1 comment/blog post) Entrants should provide the name of the blog where they commented (which will be verified). You may enter once by following the author on twitter and once by following the author on Facebook.
- Remember, tweet daily and comment once per post with a giveaway to earn extra entries.
- Each winner will be randomly selected by Rafflecopter.
Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Many thanks to Linda Beutler for visiting with us, and for her generous giveaway! THANK YOU!
Also, thank you to Janet Taylor @ More Agreeably Engaged for organizing this blog tour!
I hope you enjoyed the excerpt and thoughts on Georgiana as much as I did! How do you like to see Georgiana portrayed?
