Conceit & Concealment: A Pride & Prejudice Variation

A very believable alternate history. Following timeline of actual history and using real persons in history. It is a page turner…characters emotions portrayed beautifully. Almost had me in tears at one point. Well done.

The premise for this book is inspired. England has lost to the French and Elizabeth, a loyalist, is disgusted at those compromising for their own benefit. That includes Lydia, who lives with a married French soldier, and Darcy, who still has Pemberley. His reasons slowly shown to be more noble and Elizabeth decides to help him.I will not give spoilers except to say that history blends into fiction really well. The humane side of war, regardless of race, shines. It is the innocent who suffer after all. The love story is written beautifully too. Elizabeth and Darcy are stellar characters. I took a star off for the last part of the book. After building to the climax of throwing off the French, it falls flat. It felt too easy and wasn’t explained properly. Elizabeth’s escape is off the page too. We are rushed to the ending. After such a promising plot, this was disappointing.

I love how Ms. Reynolds managed to keep the suspense throughout the whole book! I was so afraid this would end in a cliffhanger, but the ending was very satisfying- even if we don’t know the sex of the babe. Maybe she can add an epilogue to the epilogue….?

This is by far the most complex P&P story I've ever read. Mr. Reynolds skillfully pulls off a radically different setting AND characterizations. Darcy is isolated and unpopular, but not for the usual reasons. Elizabeth is spirited and clever, but she is far from home and amongst complete strangers, including the hated French invaders.Jane is beautiful and sweet, but must hide from everyone and pretend she's dying. Bingley's trade connections make him more accepted by the French than any aristocratic blood would. Georgiana pretends to be a half-wit, even while keeping an even bigger secret.There are new characters introduced, all of them playing important roles. This is a tense, terrifying world of whispered secrets and threatening betrayals, where all too often the best option is merely the least terrible of the choices available. People walk on the knife's edge, careful never to slip too far through unwary word or unwise action.Ms. Reynolds is a master at P&P dialogue and her talent is in full display here. Her characters come to life through the words they choose to speak, and all of them become vividly detailed in the reader's imagination. We feel the restlessness of Kit Darcy; the impulsiveness and anxiety of Georgiana; the incisive strategizing of Lady Matlock; and most of all, Darcy's shift from darkness to light and back to darkness again. He has sacrificed almost everything for his country - must he sacrifice his love as well?In this story Elizabeth has less of a role than Darcy does. She is yanked unwillingly from her family and place, but in keeping with her character she strives hard to remain optimistic and sensible. Her initial prejudices against Darcy are quickly overcome, but here it is events which overtake ODC and create what seem to be insurmountable obstacles.It takes a great deal to make an Austen fan uncertain of a HEA ending for ODC, but "Conceit & Concealment" comes very close to pulling it off. I could not figure out how Ms. Reynolds was going to solve the problem of a charge of treason with an automatic death sentence of hanging - but she did it in fine style, without missing a beat or rushing the pace. Bravo!Highly recommended for all Austen fans, as long as they're accepting that this is P&P in a drastically revised Napoleonic period.

As P&P variations go, this one has gone in a completely unique direction. While historically inaccurate (on purpose) it is completely believable and the tension and desperation of the occupied population--particularly the characters in the story--is portrayed realistically. It is all there: the tension between family members, the constant distrust and resentment, the need for ridiculous amounts of discretion, the pressure of keeping the lies straight. It is very well done. It lets you experience the tension without becoming too overwhelming.Another thing that is very well done is how each individual character in Ms. Reynolds story behaves in a way that is consistent with the character that Jane Austen created. Everyone behaves according to the strengths and weaknesses that their creator endowed them with, even though they are in situations that they were never intended to experience. Those that, in the original, were strong or showed the potential for strength, demonstrated it in this story; those who were weak or shallow or lazy behaved accordingly. This takes some thought, effort, and insightness and goes a long way towards making this story so successful: while we are in an unfamiliar situation, we are there with familiar persons.There were some new characters introduced, notably the much-traumatized princess and the French general supervising the occupation. I would have liked a little more growth on the part of the princess. She was basically the same at the end of the book than she was at the beginning. But the French general was portrayed with humanity and evenness and as a person with the same kind of honor that Darcy has.I especially loved how deep and honest the love between Elizabeth and Darcy was. Their path to happiness wasn't smooth or easy, but their passion and commitment was there almost from the beginning (even if it had to take second place to their overall loyalty to the cause.)All in all, this was a fascinating venture into what might have been and how our beloved characters would have coped in a completely different setting. All's well that ends well and we get to the end happy, relieved, and free.POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT:Obviously, we know that all will end well. This is the P&P universe after all. But I did feel that the uprising, when it came, was a bit too fast and that communications, coordination, and the dissemination of news was a bit more efficient than would have been possible at that time. This is the one area in which realism was a bit sacrificed but, I for one, almost prefer it this way. I have no patience for too many military details and dragged out episodes about how this or that city fell would have bogged down the story. I would have skipped those parts anyway so it's sort of silly to complain that they weren't there. Without being a complete hypocrite, I can't deduct any stars for it. Still, I was struck with how easy it was to shed the yoke of conquest in just a few page turns.

While this is not a history textbook, it does not pretend to be. It does fluctuate between wildly funny, sour, bitter, confused, earnest, and one can complain of lack of artistic unity if one wishes to do so. I have been spared experiencing war directly, but have known people who have survived war, and artistic unity would be unrealistic. And particularly during war, one laughs often, to avoid crying, so the jolting ride is realistic. Darcy and Elizabeth are not exactly as in the original, but neither are their circumstances, and their evolution is plausible. I write from France, and am not offended by the French characters, a mixed bag like my French relatives and like the English in this book. And I am not offended by the French in this book, spelling and grammar are correct, and better than a lot I find on the French web.

A delight to read so polished a story; so well edited that I found only one possible error.It is difficult not to spoil this novel, so I will limit myself to saying that I am grateful that Napoleon never in reality succeeded in invading England.

This is indeed a romp, no other word will do! But wow, what a readable romp. Not for P & P purists as I thought myself to be, but so well devised and written that it stands alone as a magnetic and magical rewrite of English 19th Century history. I could not put it down on my first reading nor, now, on my second. . One warning, prepare for a distortion of any preconceived awareness of english history! They obviously got it all wrong at my school! Enjoy!

Another winner from Abigail. Wickham is the cause of a major problem for Darcy but luckily he does not feature for long in this story. In fact it is the circumstances Darcy and Elizabeth are involved in which seem to cause the most problems.I would definitely recommend this story and suggest a box of tissues should be close at hand I. Parts.

Brilliant! I love her books. She makes the character come to life, always. Fully recommended to all who love P&P variations.