Pride and Perjury by Alice McVeigh (Warleigh Hall, 2024) is a compilation of Jane Austen fan fiction stories, mostly related directly to the characters from Pride and Prejudice, but also including some tie-ins with characters from Emma. Although Emma isn’t as familiar to me as my all-time favorite with Lizzie Bennett, even these Emma-related stories had some Bennet friend and family character cameos, making this ebook a fun look at the small plot lines in my favorite book in a new way.
Among the twelve stories are these:
- A narration of the events of the P&P from the perspective of the housekeeper Mrs. Hill, making the story into a double double-wedding. I really enjoy seeing things from the servants’ perspectives.
- The first hand account of a young poet infatuated with a young Jane Bennet when she visits London years before our story takes place. (He eventually becomes disgusted by her family’s apparent problems as opium eaters! This totally helps explain Mrs. Bennet!!). I don’t even remember the mention of this young poet in the original novel, so this was fun to explore such an obscure passage.
- A story from Brighton to show what really happened when Lydia ran off with Wickham. I’m not sure I buy the fact that Wickham tried to discourage Lydia from joining him in his flight from his creditors, but I’m sure it could have been that she was that eager to run away too!
- Lady Catherine’s diary to show her real thoughts about the Darcy-Lizzie developing romance.
- A backstory from Mr Knightley’s more wild young years when he had a first love.
- Mr Elton’s woo-ing of Miss Dawkins in Bath (after Emma refused him).
This last story is the inspiration for the volumes’ title, for Miss Dawkins’ brother-in-law cannot stand her and “perjures” himself when he declares how much he’ll miss her at Marple Grove. This last story showed Mr. Elton courting both Caroline Bingley and Augusta Dawkins, and it is Caroline’s unfortunately cold that led Mr. Elton to ultimately choose Miss Dawkins as his bride.
Reading these brief stories make me want to reread the originals, especially Emma, since I have not reread it nearly as many times as I’ve reread P&P! I liked that the author included the passage from the Austen text before she shared her story; now I can better notice those mentions when I return to the originals.
Thanks to the author for another fun Austen read.
