Product Description

This is a reprint of the first sequel ever written to any of Jane Austen's books. It weaves favorite characters from all six of Jane Austen's novels into a riotous, but pleasurable story. As with all of Jane Austen's stories, this has a happy ending.

This book was originally printed in 1913.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1680339 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 285 pages

Review
Miss Brinton takes the original form of continuing the fortunes of the characters [of Jane Austen] and devising marriages... -- The London Times, 1913

About the Author
Little is known about the author, Miss Sybil Brinton. She was probably born in 1874. Her father was said to be a member of Parliament.

A two-page preface is written by Dr. Ted Bader, co-author of a sequel to "Pride and Prejudice" called "Desire and Duty."

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Excerpt from CHAPTER 1
There is one characteristic which may be safely said to belong to nearly all happily-married couples-that of desiring to see equally happy marriages among their young friends; and in some cases, where their wishes are strong and circumstances seem favourable to the exertion of their own efforts, they may even embark upon the perilous but delightful course of helping those persons whose minds are as yet not made up, to form a decision respecting this important crisis in life, and this done, to assist in clearing the way in order that this decision may forthwith be acted upon.

Some good intentions of this kind, arising out of a very sincere affection for both the persons concerned, and a real anxiety about the future of the younger and dearer of the two, had actuated Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy in promoting an engagement between Georgiana Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam. Georgiana was then twenty, and had lived entirely with her brother during the three and a half years of his married life. Reserved, shy, without self-reliance, and slow to form new attachments, she had been accustomed to look upon the Colonel as, after her brother, her eldest and best friend, a feeling which the disparity of their ages served to strengthen. She had therefore accepted the fact of their new relations with a kind of timid pleasure, only imploring Elizabeth that nothing need be said about marriage for some time to come.

"Elizabeth, when I am married, shall I have to go and stay at Rosings without you?" she had asked; and on being assured that such might be the terrible consequences of matrimony, she had manifested a strong inclination not to look beyond the present, but to enjoy for some time longer the love and protection she had always met with as an inmate of her brother's house.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh had thought it necessary to go through the form of expressing displeasure at the whole proceeding, in consequence of Darcy's omission to ask her advice in the disposal of his sister's hand, but in reality she so thoroughly approved of the match between her nephew and niece that she forgot her chagrin, and talked everywhere of her satisfaction in at last seeing a prospect of a member of the Darcy family being united to one who was in every respect worthy of the position.

Mr. and Mrs. Darcy were seated in the library at Pemberley one April morning when the engagement was about six months old. Their two children, a handsome boy of two, and a baby girl of a few months, had just been taken upstairs after the merry games with their parents to which this hour was usually devoted, and Elizabeth was arranging with her husband the plans for the day.

"What has become of Georgiana and Fitzwilliam?" inquired Darcy. "I understand they were going to ride together; but they both said they would prefer to put it off till twelve o'clock, when I could go with them."

"They have been walking on the terrace, but Georgiana has gone in now," replied Elizabeth, glancing out of the window. She returned to her husband's side, and, sitting down, began to speak with great earnestness. "Do you think that they are really happy in their engagement? I have been watching them closely for some days, and I am convinced that Georgiana, at all events, is not."

Mr. Darcy's manner expressed surprise and incredulity. "What fancy is this you have taken into your head, Elizabeth? No, certainly no such idea had ever crossed my own mind. You must be mistaken."

"I do not think so," said Elizabeth. "Their relation to one another has not, since he has been staying here this time, its former ease and naturalness, and I have noticed other indications as well, which make me think that freedom would bring them mutual relief."

"I am sorry for what you say, Elizabeth," said Darcy gravely; "but it is possible you lay too much stress on what may be merely a passing mood. When we first consented to the engagement I thought them to be excellently suited to each other, and so far I have not seen anything to modify that opinion. What has Georgiana been saying to you?"

"She has said nothing, but knowing her so well, I can see she is not happy. She is nervous, restless, unlike herself; she tries to escape being alone with Robert; she avoids with a painful embarrassment any reference to her future plans; nay, you must have noticed incidents like that of yesterday, when she almost cried and begged to be excused from going with us to Bath next week."

"That is mere foolishness; there is no shadow of reason why she should be more afraid of her Aunt Catherine now than she ever was."

"There is more reason, if she dreads to hear her marriage talked of as rapidly approaching, and herself and Robert referred to as a most fortunate and admirably-assorted pair-you know how your aunt harangues them on all occasions."

Darcy smiled slightly, then rose and began to pace the room. "If your conjectures are correct, Elizabeth, and Georgiana is unhappy in the prospect of this marriage, of course it cannot go on; but I shall be deeply grieved for all reasons, and I hardly know how to ask Fitzwilliam to release her. Excellent fellow though he is, he might well resent being thrown over after half a year for what seems like a girlish caprice."

"I do not believe that in any case he would resent it," replied Elizabeth. "There would be regret on both sides-regret that they had not been able to make each other happy; but I more than suspect that if we could ascertain his feelings, we should find them to coincide with Georgiana's. In six months, you know, they have had time to reflect and to realize what the engagement means to both of them."

"You assume a good deal, Elizabeth. I cannot believe that it is so uncongenial to Fitzwilliam."

"That is because he is too good, too honourable to show it; and yet I am sensible that it is so-that his regard for Georgiana is that of a friend, a brother, nothing more. I suppose you cannot remember the time when we were engaged, Darcy, and Bingley and Jane also?" she added, looking archly at her husband.

"My dear, I recollect it all with the deepest satisfaction; but, you know, everyone does not display their feelings in the same way. Fitzwilliam is an older man than I am, and was never prone to raptures, and Georgiana has not the liveliness of mind of my Elizabeth."

"I know they are not likely to be run away with by their feelings, as Mr. Collins would say," replied Elizabeth, smiling; "but even taking Fitzwilliam's age and Georgiana's gravity into consideration, this is not at all the same thing. I am convinced that they do not find that complete joy in their engagement that people should, and that these two might if they were each engaged to the right person."

"Do you mean that Georgiana has seen someone whom she might prefer?" asked Darcy sharply.

Elizabeth gave a decided negative to this, and her husband remained for some minutes wrapped in thought. At length he roused himself, and said: "You had better speak to Georgiana on the subject, Elizabeth, and if it is as you suppose, we will talk it over with Fitzwilliam together. For my sister to dissolve her engagement is a serious step, and must be well considered."

His wife agreed, and added: "Pray, dear Darcy, if it should come to an end, do not show any resentment in your manner towards Georgiana. She cannot help not caring enough for Fitzwilliam, and it will be painful enough for her to break with him and to know that she has disappointed you."

"I will try not to do so, Elizabeth; but you know how much I desire a safe and honourable settlement in life for Georgiana, such as this marriage would have been."

Customer Reviews

This book is only OK
After reading Pride and Prejudice, and watching the BBC miniseries, I was simply hooked on the story and wanted more, so I ordered this book. I must say I was somewhat disappointed.While the author certainly did keep the style and tone of Jane Austen's writing, the portrayal of some of the characters seemed awkward, especially Lady Catherine. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy do not have any of the witty "repartee" that I was so looking forward to, and there was none of the gentle humor seen in Pride and Prejudice. And there are simply TOO many characters introduced from other Austen novels, with not near enough details given about the characters I loved so much from P & P. This book concerns Georgiana, Kitty and also Col. Fitzwilliam, and those characters, while fairly interesting, are not the ones that had captured my heart and imagination and left me wanting more. I have not read any other Austen "sequels", so I can't compare this one to any of them, I only know that this book didn't satisfy my urge for more Lizzy and Darcy!! Perhaps I was expecting too much!!

Trying too hard
This book is only worth reading if you are a Jane Austen fanatic like myself. If you just have to get more of your favorite characters you might enjoy this. It has charcters from all of Jane Austen's completed novels except Lady Susan. It is primarily concerned with the love lives of Georgianna Darcy, Col. Fitzwilliam and Kitty Bennett so it is mainly a Pride and Predjudice sequel. What I did not like about the book was that it tried too hard to include too many characters from too many novels. There are so many characters in the book that many of them have become rather bland. If you love Jane Austen and can never get enough you may enjoy this book. If you're not a die hard fan this probably isn't for you. There are several better written sequels than this one.

Lovely New Fancies with Old Friends
I recently read Old Friends and New Fancies and was delighted with it. The author, Brinton, cleverly used characters from Jane Austen's six finished novels in her story, easily creating acquaintances, friendships, and even romances. Most of our old favorites are included and a good number of characters who remained unattached at the end of their novels play large roles. Brinton focused mainly on Colonel Fitzwilliam, Kitty Bennet, and Georgiana Darcy from Pride and Prejudice; Tom Bertram, Mary Crawford, and William Price from Mansfield Park; and James Morland from Northanger Abbey. Mr. and Mrs. Darcy, Mr. and Mrs. Bingley, Captain and Mrs. Wentworth, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Ferrars, Mr. and Mrs. Knightley, and numerous other characters make large and small appearances. The setting is mainly Bath, Pemberley, and the Bingleys' estate. Who wouldn't want to go back to Pemberley?

I quite enjoyed reading Old Friends and New Fancies, not least because I was able to meet some of my favorite characters again and visit beloved places such as the Darcys' estate. In the past, I have been wary of reading Jane Austen sequels for fear that the author has taken liberties with the characters and made them behave as they would not. Rest assured, Brinton did no such thing. Her writing style is rather similar to Jane's and I was always delighted to read lines that sounded so like the great Jane's own. For instance, this exchange between Mr. and Mrs. Darcy seems right in line with what Jane might have written:

Mr. Darcy: ". . . we have got into shocking ways since my wife married into the family."
Mrs. Darcy: "On the contrary, I think I have educated you all admirably."

Or this exchange between the irasible Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Elizabeth Darcy:

Elizabeth: "We have all been enjoying your piece so much. It must be delightful to be able to play like that. My aunt is such a lover of music that she cannot hide her enthusiasm."
"And why should I hide it, may I ask?" demanded Lady Catherine. "My judgment has often been of great service to young amateurs, among whom you might include yourself, Elizabeth."
"Yes, I know," replied Elizabeth, good-humouredly . . ."

That is just how I imagine Elizabeth would get along with Lady Catherine, once Elizabeth had established herself as Mr. Darcy's wife and mistress of Pemberley, and made it clear to Lady Catherine that she would not be trifled with.

Old Friends and New Fancies is full of delightful little moments that remind the reader of Jane's beloved novels. It is amusing to try to figure out who will end up with whom!

I am glad to have read Old Friends and New Fancies and would recommend it to any Jane Austen fan.