Reviewed by Peggy La Vake

For all lovers of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", historical novelist Jane Dawkins has given us a novel to savor after Jane Austen has put her pen to rest. A delightful work, "Letters From Pemberley:The First Year", brings us to the writing desk of newly married Elizabeth Bennet Darcy as she embarks on her first year at Pemberley, the grand estate of her new husband, Fitzwilliam Darcy. Her letters are written to her beloved younger sister, Jane Bennet Bingley, also newly married to Mr Charles Bingley.

The inspired letters are created by a young woman who has been elevated through marriage and transported from her predictable life as a sister and daughter, to the role of wife and mistress of the Pemberley estate,and a new lifestyle of elegance and grandeur.

With each letter, Jane Dawkins constructs a delicious story line that might very well have been the continuation of Elizabeth and Jane Bennet's relationship as close sisters, finding themselves living apart and each navigating the newness of the state of marriage.

Filled with youth, innocence and wit, their connection through written correspondence is picturesque, as if they were still whispering gossip, side by side in the parlor of their home. Through Elizabeth's ingenuity we become acquainted with a new cast of characters at Pemberley, and some we revisit from Jane Austen's previous literary works.

In her letters to Jane, we find Elizabeth evolving out of a home sick young lady into a confident and masterful woman, in charge of her new home, and fully aware of the delicate behavior needed to exist in an elite society while maintaining her wit and subtle sense of humor. Jane Dawkins has done a remarkable job creating a continuation of "Pride and Prejudice" with a cleverly woven story line that satisfies our curiosity about the ongoing lives of our most beloved Jane Austen Characters.

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