Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart

Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart
By Beth Pattillo
Guideposts, 2010. 268 pgs. Fiction

Claire Prescott arrives at Oxford to attend a conference on Pride and Prejudice in lieu of her sister, who is experiencing complications due to pregnancy. Claire, who is recently unemployed, in a relationship that doesn't seem to be going anywhere, and who has put her whole life on hold since the death of her parents years earlier in order to take care of her sister (even though she's now an adult), is at a crisis point in her life. When she meets the dashing James Beaumont, as well as an elderly lady who insists that she is in possession of the original draft of Pride and Prejudice, titled First Impression--which did not have Elizabeth Bennet end up with Mr. Darcy--Claire starts thinking about her life in a whole new way.

This is a satisfying Jane Austen-inspired story. It's not particularly remarkable, but Claire's process of coming to understand herself and love, as well as the snippets of the alternate Pride and Prejudice, are adequate. Fans of light romance or Jane Austen should like this one.

AE