“But don’t you see, Lizzy, if you shut yourself away, the Germans have claimed another victory, and it is a series of small victories that in the end wins wars.”
(from Darcy Goes to War, page 94)
Darcy Goes to War combines two of my biggest reading interests, World War II and Jane Austen. In this retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in 1944, Fitzwilliam Darcy is a bomber pilot, and Elizabeth Bennet transports supplies as a lorry driver. Mary Lydon Simonsen retains the basic plot points of Austen’s original, but she moves things along at a faster pace.
Darcy doesn’t make a good first impression when Elizabeth first sees him in a pub drinking his sorrows away, but with World War II in high gear, he has even more obstacles to overcome in building a relationship with her. Having witnessed the horrors of war firsthand and having comforted her sister, Jane, after the death of her first love in battle, Elizabeth wants nothing to do with romance until the war is over. However, she finds it hard to resist Darcy’s charms once she gets to know him, and a heart-to-heart talk with her father, a veteran of the World War I trenches, makes her realize that she must carry on despite the war.
Although Mr. Wickham, Mr. Collins, Caroline Bingley, and Lady Catherine are mostly or completely absent from the novel, the war is the big tension-builder here. Simonsen does a great job bringing wartime England to life through the war work performed by the Bennet sisters, the bombing raids flown by Darcy and Bingley, and the destruction caused by Hitler’s V2 rockets. She introduces some intriguing American soldiers, even emphasizing how many girls found themselves pregnant during the war. Not a single aspect of life, not even dating, was left unaffected by the war.
Unlike other Austen-inspired novels, Darcy Goes to War is different in that Darcy’s parents are alive, eliminating Lady Catherine’s influence. However, this doesn’t mean Darcy gets off easy, and his troubled relationship with his parents plays out in his personality and in his relationship with Elizabeth. Meanwhile, Simonsen takes the love story up a notch by giving Darcy and Elizabeth a spiritual connection that gets them through some difficult times. Some might say it is a bit over the top, but I think it works in the context of war.
Darcy Goes to War was a pleasant read, especially for a novel with World War II at its core. I love how Simonsen takes Austen’s characters and makes them her own and how she uses the romance to keep things light even when the book heads toward darker territory. Darcy Goes to War is a must for fans of the Austenesque, underscoring the power of love to survive even the darkest days of war.
Disclosure: I received Darcy Goes to War from the author for review.
© 2012 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
I love fining stories that retell Darcy and Elizabeth’s romance from different perspectives and in different situations.
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And if they’re set during WWII, all the better!
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You need to write an Austen tale of your own!
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I just might!
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Great review, Anna! I am glad you enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the balance Simonsen gives between the heavy and light- using the romance to offset some of the darker territory of war, as you say.
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Thanks, Jakki!
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Sounds like an interesting read.
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It was!
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Oh my gosh, Fitzwilliam Darcy as a bomber pilot? With parents still living? sounds like an interesting read.
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Yes, and yes! You have to read this one!
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I am seconding what Kathy wrote!! I would read it! Mary is writing like crazy!! I need to get to some of her books that I have on my kindle!!!
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I used my Christmas gift cards to buy the rest of her Austen books. I think I have them all now!
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Another Darcy book, and one that really is perfect for you! (I cannot believe how many Darcy books you read, Anna. You are probably ready to write your own!) I’m glad you enjoyed this one. 🙂
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This was the perfect Austenesque novel for me! You know me so well. 😉
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Now that’s an interesting premise. It’s abook I really would like to read as well. I like the oldfashioned cover.
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It’s actually a painting. I don’t remember the name of it, and my book isn’t near me right now, though.
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Mary’s comment below mentions where she got the cover!
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I’m always amazed at how many interesting Austenesque re-tellings they come up with!
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That’s why I can’t get enough of them!
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Hi Anna. So glad you enjoyed Darcy Goes to War. You and I are on the same page with D&E and WWII books. As for the cover, I really lucked out there. Earlier this year, the British Govt. released into the public domain on Wikicommons posters from WWII. That was one of the posters! As soon as I saw it, I knew I had my cover.
Don’t know if you saw my post on Austen Authors yesterday about the relationship between writers and readers, but I mentioned your blog as a must read for someone looking for a good story, esp. about WWII.
Again, my thanks.
P.S. Hello everyone! Hi Stacy.
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You’re very welcome, and thanks for mentioning me on Austen Authors. I hope you’ll revisit the WWII period…maybe with Persuasion next time??
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I enjoyed it too! Mary is the bees knees in historical fiction.
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Thanks, Christina. I appreciate your support. Glad you enjoy the history b/c it’s my favorite thing to write.
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She does a wonderful job putting Darcy and Elizabeth in different time periods.
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You can’t go wrong with a Mary Simonsen book. Sometimes I feel like Kathy Bates in Misery standing over her saying, ‘Write more!’
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Thanks, Angie. We have a mutual admiration going on here. 🙂
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Hee hee! I still have a handful of Mary’s Austen books to read. It feels like she writes faster than I can keep up!
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It’s a good read. You have done it again Mary. Thank you.
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Thanks, Elaine. Glad you enjoyed it. I’ve been wanting to write a WWII book for ages.
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Glad you enjoyed it, too, Elaine!
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[…] she’s not afraid to take risks, like putting Austen’s characters into completely different time periods or even turning them into werewolves. I enjoyed her previous time-travel novel, […]
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