It’s always tempting to speculate about what happened next in the lives of much loved characters such as Elizabeth and Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. A number of writers have tried to cash in on this interest in Austen’s characters by writing ‘sequels’, though apparently few have succeeded in producing anything worth reading. (Here is a list of the attempts.) P.D. James is one of the more distinguished writers to take up her pen in this endeavour, and she knows she is being cheeky. ‘I owe an apology to the shade of Jane Austen,’ she writes, ‘for involving her beloved Elizabeth in the trauma of a murder investigation’. So does the result justify her impertinence?
A ‘sequel’ that is also a crime story has to do two things. It has to recreate the tone of the earlier book – it’s the characters and their social setting – and it should also be a good crime story. Here, I’m not sure that these two requirements aren’t mutually exclusive.
Elizabeth and Darcy are happy at Pemberley. They have two young sons, an exemplary household and Jane and Bingley live nearby. It is the evening before the Pemberley ball. Into this ordered world bursts Lydia Wickham, screaming that murder has been done. A body, an investigation and a prosecution follow. But have they got the right man?
As you would expect, James does a good job of setting the tone of early nineteenth century English society. Her use of language is pitch-perfect. The book opens with the observation that ‘It was generally agreed by the female residents of Meryton that Mr and Mrs Bennet of Longbourn had been fortunate in the disposal in marriage of four of their five daughters’, and continues in the same vein. Most of the characters in the story are already known to readers of Pride and Prejudice, and take their colouring from their originals. There is less of the wit and humour of the earlier book, but that is not surprising in a murder story. The point of view is mostly shared between Elizabeth and Darcy, which also gives less scope for Elizabeth; after all, she can’t attend an inquest, let alone a trial. Darcy has some struggles with family pride, but there is no change in the ideal relationship between him and Elizabeth, as there might be if this were a ‘relationship’ story. There is also a short section told from the perspective of one of the servants. This definitely is out of character for an Austen story, and seems more a way of giving the reader information than a sudden lurch into a more democratic view of narrative.
A problem that is perhaps endemic to sequels is how much of the back story from the previous book needs to be included. This story is tied quite closely to events in Pride and Prejudice, so quite a bit has to be repeated from the earlier book. I know P & P very well, so I found this –well – repetitious; it would probably not worry other readers.
I’m less happy with the crime story. It does a satisfying job of involving characters we know from the earlier book. But I think there is a bit much telling and not quite enough showing in relation to it. Some suspicious behaviour and some hints are dangled in front of the reader, but none of this is really developed. Its resolution relies on a death-bed confession – one of my least favourite crime writing conventions – and on a verbal explanation from another character. There is none of the investigation James suggests Elizabeth is involved in. I think this is because there is no one in the story who can investigate. Elizabeth and Darcy are both precluded from it by their social and family position. There is another character I thought might have been introduced to do the detecting, but that isn’t the case. So confession it has to be, with crime writing sacrificed to ‘sequel’.
I was given this book for Christmas, and found it a very pleasant holiday read. So no doubt I’m being over-critical, but I can’t help wondering if the spirited Elizabeth of the original might have solved the crime where Elizabeth, the ideal wife and mother of James’s sequel, could not.
P.D. James is a great crime writer when she has a real detective. You can read about her, and her detective, Adam Dalgliesh, here.
What Book to Read? 
[…] in order to be true to Elizabeth and Darcy, the crime story had to suffer. You can read what I said here. But of course I was interested to see how the TV series deals with […]
I love Dire Straits. I have all their songs on my iPod and loved the video. Its such a feel good song. I try my best to see each day for all the good it holds. When something rellay good or great happens, I always say a quick \”thanks God\” to myself. You are SO right, there is NO time for the ugly. Kids, no matter how old they get, we will always drop everything to help. I hope that spankin\’ new hip is working out and I\’m thrilled and I\’m even more thrilled that Mr. Darcy is STILL a prince! Take care my friend. . .
This sounds really interesting! Think I am going to have to put it on my ‘to read’ list. The repetition doesn’t sound ideal, but I haven’t read P & P for a while so should be ok.
Thanks Kay!
I am just wondering, has anynoe ever opted OUT of a family gathering because one spouse (typically the in-law spouse, not the one in the family) has been ostracized or made fun of?We’ve been in this situation, and it only takes 1-2 people to make someone miserable. But when you live IN the same town, it’s hard to make excuses. We can’t just be gone the day of that holiday, because then they’ll arrange something one, two, three days before. I don’t want to be hurtful to those who care, or involve them in unnecessary gossip, but aren’t there times when, for the sake of your marriage, it’s better to NOT GO than to go and then fight later about how the cold shoulders should’ve been handled??