An introduction to my Pride and Perjury . . .
Pride and Perjury, my short story collection, ambushed me while I was planning, and even plotting, my fourth novel in the series, and my seventh altogether.
It was the holes in Pride and Prejudice that bothered me. The omissions – my own, in Darcy, as well as Jane Austen’s. (Wonder if they ever kept her up at night?)
For example, what happened in Brighton, between Lydia and Wickham that culminated in their hasty elopement?
I mean, Wickham had alternatives still open to him. He was apparently so wildly swoon-worthy that every female in Meryton admired him… He had been gifted an excellent education, courtesy of Darcy’s father… and he was not constrained, as most Regency-era women would have been, to a single place, or even to a single country.
We’re told he hoped to marry money and had been pursuing Miss Mary King in Meryton for that reason. So why did he elope with little Lydia Bennet, who was attractive enough but almost penniless?
Austen never explains why.
(Maybe because, had he failed to elope with Lydia, bang goes her entire plot, lol!)
I was equally curious about the young gentlemen whom Mrs Bennet brags in P&P had “written verses” on Miss Bennet, when she was just fifteen. Who was he? How smitten had he really been? And why had he desisted?
And I was also curious about how Mr Elton worked through his ire and disappointment after Emma’s abrupt dismissal – and how he ensnared Miss Hawkins of Bath.
And what about whom Miss de Bourgh wound up marrying? Remember, she’d have been close to the age of anxiety, as she must have been around 28 when Darcy disappointed her. (Hint: no, not the Colonel!)
Anyway, in the end I decided that the novel could wait… I had short stories to write, and 12 was a nice, round number. I was also inspired by the late great Alice Munro, the Nobel-prizewinning genius, who died a couple of weeks ago. (I gulp down her short stories like candy… Just one more… and maybe just one more… What a loss to the world of writing! ☹)
The other stories in Pride and Perjury include range widely, from Lady Catherine’s diary (“Lady Catherine regrets”), to Caroline Bingley’s doomed efforts at captivation in “Captivating Darcy”, to Kitty’s crush on a Longbourn curate in “Valentine’s Day”. Mrs Hill takes centre stage in “The Housekeeper’s Tale” – Mr Knightley in “Mary Rose”.
(Have to brag that my Warleigh Hall Press Jane Austen Series scooped First Place in Chanticleer International Book Award’s Book Series Award earlier this month!!! Crazy happy to have won, as Chanticleer’s idea of a series starts at three books, so my series was only barely eligible… I guess they must’ve liked them!!!
And here are three short tasters, from “A Heliotrope Ribbon” – my imagining of why Wickham chose to elope with Lydia.
After this conversation Colonel Forster allowed himself to feel reassured. Though he still fretted that Lieutenant Wickham was not perfectly reliable. He said as much to his wife that night as she prepared for bed.
‘Heavens!’ cried she, in mock indignation. ‘I should hope he is not reliable, for that would destroy his wicked charm at once, and he is such a favourite of mine and Lydia’s! His compliments are so impish, and his dancing such perfection!’
‘Yes, he seems to have a reputation with the ladies as being as dashing a fellow as any.’
Harriet tossed her curls and said, ‘Well, the others must do without him, for he is our particular pet!’
<<<>>>
‘Ah! There he is, at last!’
Denny turned to see. ‘Who, Wickham? But he is almost always late!’
‘That is true, but still annoying, when we could have been flirting this long half-hour already!’
‘Do you think of nothing but flirting, my dear Miss Lydia?’
‘Why… oh! He has asked the new lady to stand up with him. Do you know her?’
‘I know of her – at least, a little. She is a Mrs Townsend, a widow with a very good jointure, along with a property at Hove and a house in town.’
Lydia pouted. ‘But what is she like? Is she as charming as Harriet and me?’
‘I have not been introduced to the lady, but surely that is not possible!’
Lydia sneaked another glance. ‘Her face is too thin.’
‘True, but she is not actually plain. And – to be blunt – perhaps our friend Wickham cannot afford to be so very particular.’
<<<>>>
Lydia tossed her curls. ‘So, do you make a habit of kissing ladies, then?’
‘Only if they are excessively pretty.’
‘And do they never object?’
‘That depends,’ said Wickham judiciously.
‘Upon the quality of the kiss?’
‘Upon the quality’ said he, ‘of the lady.’
An introduction to my Pride and Perjury:
And finally:
JANE AUSTEN SWAG!!!
To celebrate Pride and Perjury’s release, I’m launching my very first Austen swag giveaway.
These include: everything displayed here: two pencil cases – one with the Penguin P&P edition, the other with the Mansfield Park quotation – the cards, little notelets, the Austen bookmarks, the Austen book cover magnet, the (many) Pride and Prejudice stickers, the single sample of Jane Austen tea, and Christina Boyd’s brilliant set of postcards of modern-day magazines with Regency themes (Mr Collins’s is called Glory Today… The ladies’ mags are full of ‘how to catch your husband’ memes). Not pictured: the pencils with quotes from Austen imprinted down their sides, the $50 Amazon gift card.
Please send an email at astmcveigh@gmail.com with GIVEAWAY CONTESTANT in the subject line if interested in being in the draw to take place on June 30th.
HAPPY READING!
Leave a Reply to Alice McVeighCancel reply