While visiting his aunt's home, he meets and falls in love with Margaret O'Brien. The married and had more children, including three sons, thus breaking the entail that had been in place by Thomas' grandfather. But Thomas' cousin is convinced that the sons cannot inherit. You see, the second Mrs Bennet came from Antigua, the child of an English born land owner and a freed slave. Mr Collins, the Bennet cousin believes that the sons are not worthy of inheriting an estate, and plans to eliminate the entire Bennet family, thus he could claim Longbourn. How will Darcy, who is visiting the community with his friend who had leased the neighboring estate of Netherfield Park, accept such knowledge? Will he follow his heart or will he bow to society's view of such a family? Will Elizabeth and Darcy have a happily ever after or is their relationship doomed?

    With these men come their children, young boys and girls who forge life-long connections akin to that their fathers have built.As the children grow to adulthood, they mature, their relationships growing ever stronger. Fitzwilliam Darcy, having been taught by an excellent father, cleaves to his friendships with Charles Bingley, Anthony Fitzwilliam, and George Wickham, knowing they will bring his family much joy and prosperity. Of especial importance to his future happiness, a lively sprite he knew as a girl has grown to become a lovely young woman as desirable as any.In Hertfordshire, Elizabeth Bennet, having known Darcy since she was a young girl, greets him when he comes to the neighborhood, eager to discover if she can love him as a woman loves a man. As their relationship deepens and they learn what it is to love together, an enemy from the past arrives to bedevil them and threaten all they hold dear.Life, while it brings its share of joys, also brings the inevitable sorrows, and when calamity strikes, Darcy and his brothers in all but blood must press forward to achieve the impossible. And while he knows the odds are stacked against him, Darcy possesses an indomitable will that will not allow him to fail.Bonds of Friendship is the first book of two in the Bonds of Life series. The second book, Bonds of Love, is schedule for publication in summer 2020.

    Whilst there she is surprised to meet Mr Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr Wickham.Elizabeth is about to be astounded time and again by the events that play out in Liverpool. Events which see her undertake a night time adventure with two men she had no idea were in fact cousins!While staying at Gracechurch Street in London she had been invited by Lady Matlock to a soiree at Matlock Gardens. It was there that she was left in no doubt, by her Ladyship, that she was not a suitable wife for her son Colonel Fitzwilliam, who Elizabeth had only recently met. Too poor, was the insinuation and certainly not born high enough.After being duped by Wickham and astonished by what she overheard Mr Darcy say to his cousin, Elizabeth was delighted when within less than a week, her life changed immeasurably. A change which would find her living, albeit temporarily, only five miles from Pemberley.This is a gentle, lightly amusing tale of the developing love between Darcy and Elizabeth, with all its ups and downs.

    Thomas Bennet married the love of his life: Miss Fanny Gardiner. She gave him three children, Jane, Elizabeth and Tommy. 2 years after Tommy, Fanny was taken from her loving family birthing a second son, who was stillborn.Another branch of the Bennet family, cousins to the Longbourn Bennets, are titled, the Earl and Countess of Holder, who live in Staffordshire with their 5 children. The two families are extremely close and after Fanny dies Bennet’s cousins, at his request, keep and raise Tommy. In his grief Thomas Bennet doesn't think he can raise a 2-year-old at the same time as his two daughters. He also feels Tommy needs a mother figure in his life.Martha Bingley is the widow of an honourable tradesman, Mr. Arthur Bingley, who had died of a heart attack. Bingley senior was a minor partner of Edward Gardiner in Gardiner and Associates. They had three children, Charles, Louisa, and Caroline. Unlike canon, the Bingleys are not very wealthy, and the girls have small dowries of £2,000 each.Bennet is introduced to Martha at his brother-in-law’s house. The Bingleys live in a leased house a few houses down from the Gardiners on Gracechurch street. Martha has always dreamed of climbing up the social ladder, raising her family above their roots in trade, so she compromises Bennet as he is a landed gentleman with an estate. Being an honourable man, and against advice of friends and family, he marries her.Our 'prince' in the story is of course none other than His Grace Fitzwilliam Darcy, Duke of Derbyshire, Earl of Lambton. Like canon his parents have already passed away. Dear old Lady Catherine de Bourgh will do anything to make her sickly daughter with a nasty disposition a Duchess. At some point the Duke purchases Netherfield to be closer to London so his sister, Lady Georgiana, will have her preferred music master close by.Bennet never reveals the existence of his son, or his relations, who are peers of the realm, to his new wife, who he dislikes intensely. The neighbours, none of whom like the new Mrs. Bennet or her children, keep the Bennet’s secrets without question. Bennet allows his new wife to believe the entail on Longbourn is away from the female line giving her the impression that on his death, she and her three spawn will be evicted from the estate by a distant unnamed cousin.Sometime after sending Jane to live with his cousins, for reasons which will be revealed in the story, with Lizzy refusing to leave her father’s side, Bennet has an accident which kills him. When no heir presents himself to throw her and her children, still at Longbourn, into the hedgerows, the stepmother feels more secure at the estate.Several of the usual suspects are present as well as some other characters. This is a story of hope and survival and the eventual triumph of good over evil.

    While the revenge taken is not fully or graphically detailed, it is extreme.“He had certainly formed such a plan, and without meaning that it should effect his endeavour to separate him from Miss Bennet, it is probable that it might add something to his lively concern for the welfare of his friend.” Pride & Prejudice, chapter 45This vagary proposes an alternate path for the characters of Pride and Prejudice. Some character aspects are embellished, and longstanding plans change, fail, or are realized and perhaps regretted in this fanciful twist.Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy’s plan to avoid being compromised by Miss Caroline Bingley leads to an unexpected friendship with Miss Elizabeth Bennet. In this tale, the two of them work together on one plan to help his sister, and another, which, with the aid of his friend Mr. Charles Bingley and her elder sister Jane, will assist her family in correcting some of their most embarrassing behaviors. The plan, if brilliant in its execution, has results which are beyond any they could have imagined. After Mr. Darcy dashes her plans to become the next mistress of Pemberley, Miss Bingley chooses to leave Netherfield, take her mother’s maiden name of Northwood and control of her dowry, and returns to town. What machinations will she resort to in order to force Mr. Darcy to marry her? Miss Mary Bennet, at her sisters’ encouragement, devises a plan of her own to win the future she wants for herself. Sent by his mother to Meryton in order to assist his cousin, to what lengths will Colonel Fitzwilliam go in order to persuade Miss Charlotte Lucas that she is exactly the woman he has been searching for? And which plans of that scoundrel George Wickham's can be thwarted using the infamous gossip chain of Meryton, and to what measures will he resort if they succeed?CAUTION: This vagary does have some uses of profanity. In defense of Mrs. Bennet, however, sometimes an indolent husband needs to be told to get off his arse.CAUTION: For those who are on Team Richard, I do hope you enjoy him in this tale as much as I have. For those of you who prefer to look at Darcy as the man above all men, I preemptively apologize. While an almost perfectly proper gentleman who makes a decision or acts on a plan only after considering all angles, a situation sometimes requires a man whose strengths include quick, strategic action.NOTE from the author: The whole of the book takes place between Jane and Elizabeth’s sojourn at Netherfield and the ball. I confess that I find the journey to the courtship or altar, whichever comes first, the most exciting part of a variation/vagary/retelling. The original novel, and the movies derived from it, end quite quickly after all pertinent parties have chosen their partner for their HEA. So, too, do I hope that when this tale ends, there is no doubt that they will ever after be happy.NOTE from the author: Readers may notice what would be considered an improper use of capitalization when referring to members of the militia throughout this novel. These capitalizations were not made in error, they simply demonstrate respect for the rank earned by the characters portrayed in this novel, a form of deference and respect that could not be overlooked by the author.

    No stranger to heartbreak himself, Thomas’s interference ensures his nieces cross paths with the gentlemen that are foremost in their thoughts. Whilst their road to happiness is not always straightforward, the young people may not be the only ones to find true love at the end of it.Filled with love, humour and adventure, this novel offers an unexpected beginning to the old Bennet family story we all know and love.

    What is written in it is not meant for any living soul. But now Bingley knows, and much more than he should. The shame is overwhelming for both friends and their relationship itself is put on trial.Upset with himself for his weakness and his obsession with Miss Elizabeth Bennet, embarrassed that Bingley has discovered his deepest secrets, caught between duty and desire and struggling to protect his privacy, Fitzwilliam Darcy is caught in the midst of a storm of emotions where he feels lost as never before. And the situation gets even worse when he has to face an old enemy.Will he leave Hertfordshire and run away from any dangerous indiscretions and temptations, or will he be capable of putting his pride, resentfulness and haughtiness aside, allowing other sentiments to come to the surface?

    Having met the Bennets on her previous visit to the estate, Lady Felton decides that taking an interest in Mr. Bennets older daughters will help give her some purpose and distraction from her personal grief. Arriving with her guest, Anne de Bourgh and her godson, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, the Duchess soon fills up her guest rooms with the Bingleys, the Hursts and Mr. Darcy and his ward and younger sibling Georgiana. Her guests, the Bennets and Mr. Collins and the newly arrived militia all combine for matchmaking, madness and matrimony in this Pride and Prejudice variation.

    But what happens when a certain Derbyshire gentleman sees things in a completely different way? A childhood illness leaves Fitzwilliam Darcy with physical limitations that keep him from seeing the world as it is. When his trust is challenged again and again by those dearest to him, will he ever recover enough to discover his own path to true love? Explore an alternate reality where Elizabeth Bennet strikes up an unlikely friendship with a blind Mr. Darcy - only to find herself armed with unique perspectives that will challenge both him and her in how they view themselves, their loved ones, and the world at large.

    Darcy's proposal at Kent but the gentleman will not be so easily spurned.Suddenly, she is the wife of Fitzwilliam Darcy. But before their wedding breakfast can commence, she is left to face the wrath of Lady Catherine when illness overcomes Mr. Darcy. With Colonel Fitzwilliam and Charlotte Lucas at her side, Elizabeth comes to know great love and loss at Rosings Park.

    The Bennet family recognizes that the winter is very cold but nothing prepares them for the ‘year without a summer’ that follows. Frost and cool temperatures every month of the growing season reduce harvests of important grains, vegetables, and fruits. Their England is dependent upon locally grown foodstuffs and the people are unable to bring in food stuffs from other parts of the world–in fact other parts of the world would not have had surpluses of food to send. Horse and oxen-drawn wagons could only move produce so far in any single day.With some good luck, Mr. Darcy and Miss Bennet separate after the Ball at Netherfield on excellent terms. Through happenstance, the couple meet at Hunsford at Easter during the cold spring, fall in love and become engaged. However, as the families and tenants struggle to harvest diminished harvests of grains and hay, the Bennet and Darcy families struggle to remain hopeful. The poor harvests do not prevent the marriage of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam, and they travel from London to Pemberley for the lean winter that affects the inhabitants of manor houses and farmhouses.In Hertfordshire, Charles Bingley must deal with Caroline and his aunt from Scarborough, and Jane must rally her family as they discover how much they miss Elizabeth’s humour and wit. But in spring 1817, the weather makes all of England a green and bountiful land once again, and Jane and Charles find their way toward the happily-ever-after they deserve.

    

    Bingley leave Hertfordshire immediately after the ball which Mr. Bingley hosted at Netherfield Park. It assumes that Mr. Bennet has died and that the Bennet women no longer live at Longbourn because of the entail which gave that estate to Mr. Collins. The Bennet daughters have been distributed among relatives--Mary and Lydia with Mrs. Bennet in a cottage in Meryton, Jane with her Uncle and Aunt Phillips in Meryton, and Elizabeth and Kitty with their Uncle and Aunt Gardiner in London. This variation addresses how the family manages to survive the tragedy, how the relationship of Elizabeth and Darcy is influenced by Elizabeth's becoming the ward of her merchant uncle and aunt, and how the lives of other Bennet daughters are affected.

    Darcy owned Netherfield and was persuaded to take a holiday there as a seemingly a modest gentleman? He has his father's brother, the honourable Judge Darcy, to support him with the heavy burdens on his shoulders during his respite in Hertfordshire after Georgiana’s difficult summer. Elizabeth Bennet does not form her prejudice against Bingley's visitor and a platonic friendship forms. This story contains several adventurous scenarios with mild language and reference to kidnapping and sexual innuendo.

    Come along on this spirited romp through P&P where the author shines a new light on the character of the various characters.Three spirits, Mrs Prudence Bennet, Lady Anne Darcy, and Sir Lewis de Bourgh are sent to all the major and some of the minor characters of Pride and Prejudice.They are to point out the characters’ flaws by showing them their past and present, as well as their potential future if they do not remedy those flaws.Once Darcy and Elizabeth, and all her family, as well as sundry others have had a chance to come to terms with what they have been shown, how will it affect their behaviour afterwards?Who will change and who will ignore the warnings?What will be the consequences of any potential changes?Who will have a HEA due to the intervention of the spirits?Warning: Three of the potential futures contain references to either rape, violence, or death which, although not explicit or graphic, may cause distress to some readers.