Jane Austen Fan Fiction




Reviewed by Francine


When a Pride & Prejudice prequel is as good as the original, then indeed the author has excelled in the medium of writing, and Riana Everly does just that with this novel. Her rendition of young Mr. Gardiner in the prime of youth and on his trading travels to Derbyshire, is delightful.


His story begins with an opening more akin to Charles Dickens than Jane Austen. Given the instance of a boy in distress young Gardiner displays a heart of gold, and is well accustomed to paying witness to the harsher side of life in the less salubrious districts of London. Although Gardiner has an eye to quality of cloth there is a sense of naivety about him in other matters. He quite simply takes people and things at face value and believes almost every word thus uttered, until suddenly events become confusing and he puzzles the strange antics of his newly acquired waif-cum-assistant.



On the flipside, Mr. Gardiner’s employment of the waif has provided a place of safety, and more besides. But when one has lied and masqueraded as other, then a day of reckoning will inevitably dawn, and owning to dishonesty is not always as straightforward as might be imagined. Whilst words of affection expressed on paper warmed the cockles of Gardiner’s smitten heart, the outcome of truthful honesty turns to one of shame and guilt and disbelief for him. How could he have been so foolish, and what-if? And here I shall pause, for to tell more would spoil the plot, except to say the Dickens opening gradually melds into Austen as familiar faces from Pride & Prejudice step centre stage, and Georgian England comes alive. Here I shall end with the words, Pure Escapism at its best!







Reviewed by Francine:

Assumptions & Absurdities is a truly apt title for this Jane Austen Fan Fiction novel. Being that of a variation on the Pride & Prejudice theme, it’s a well written narrative driven novel, with lots of amusing asides. And, to avoid spoiling the plot the best way to describe this novel is to say the author has a mischievous streak. You’ll see why, and yet, to some extent, what occurs seems quite plausible, if a little absurd. Therein lies the problem of assumption that all must be as before, instead of lateral thinking and wicked indulgence of characters who choose to differ on how their stories are to unfold. This is a fun read. Enjoy! 










Review by Francine.

In Charlotte, the author takes us beyond Pride & Prejudice and Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy's trials and tribulations, to that of Mr. Collins, a thoroughly despicable creature, whom, as a character in Jane Austen's classic P&P was in all honesty her party piece. Mr. Collins appeared as a larger than life toadying and lecherous would-be suitor to Elizabeth Bennet, and one could almost hear his shuddering intakes of breath (sucked between teeth) and as a reader paid witness to drool at the side of his mouth.


I'm not sure how, but Ms Aminadra shines new light on Mr. Collins and one wonders if it was possible to have sorely misunderstood Jane Austen's previous characterisation of Collins in P&P as an obsequious and vile tongued manipulator. Charlotte, however, remains reasonably true to her original characterisation: seeking sense of direction and a house all her own, and views marriage with Mr. Collins a necessity at the outset. Likewise, as in P&P, Lady Catherine de Bourgh is true to character, and then comes the twist as Charlotte rallies strength to rebel and Mr. Collins ever the submissive to his patroness Lady Catherine suddenly becomes beholden to Mr. Darcy.


As a novel this is a fun read and highly amusing, though I'm not sure the Mr. Darcy of Austen's P&P would readily have paid court to Collins. Nevertheless, this is not an Austen novel, this is what amounts to a spin-off and "what might have been" had Jane Austen written a sequel to P&P. A fun read! 

Reviewer asides: After all, Jane Austen spin-offs should be fun to read, sometimes tense, sometimes hilarious, and most of all, respecting the social mores of the period in the genteel sense of Jane Austen's creations: morally upright as any pastor's daughter would be, unlike contemporaries of her time and before, who wrote shockingly immoral books.     


Also reviewed by David:

Those of us authors who write Regency Romances often also tackle the canon of Jane Austen and try to take her creations and add our own twist to them. This falls into a few groups, one that take the historical Jane and use her in their story, others who take her creations and are exceedingly true to them, as best they can, or take those characters beyond the short few paragraphs she left us at the end of her stories. I have done so and by so doing have put on paper my thoughts on how those characters would change. Ms. Aminadra has done so as well, using as her heroine, Charlotte Collins nee Lucas.

We are all familiar with the tale of Pride and Prejudice, and the farcical Mr. Collins whom Lizzy Bennet and Mr. Bennet both make fun of, though Lizzy for the sake of her friendship with Charlotte, when visiting and actually meeting the esteemed Patroness, understand more of what is in the nature of Mr. Collins. But that is the canon, and as Ms Aminadra weaves her tale, she has to embellish the few lines of what we guess will happen to the Collins'.

Charlotte of course is caught in the middle with what will occur post Pride and Prejudice as she will one day be the Lady of Longbourn and we know Mrs. Bennet the mother of her BFF is assured that she will be turned out right quick. Not that Mrs. Bennet should think that this is now as dire as it was before. From all the movies we have seen, Directors have chosen to show us that ten Longbourns could fit into any Pemberly and a room certainly could be found for her there, or at Netherfield. Yet back in Mertyn, one can be sure that Mrs. Bennet has something to say about Mrs Collins, the daughter of Lady Lucas who still is one of her closest friends, and rivals for attention in that neighborhood.

From this Ms. Aminadra is able to relate to us that Charlotte Collins has complexities, as well as from the Canon's reveal that Charlotte was never one to think she would wed for love. That clearly puts her on the quest to find love. And while Jane Austen left us with several ladies still in need of marrying at the end of Pride and Prejudice, of the men, their is but one, Colonel Fitzwilliam (discounting Denny and other men of the Militia Regiment we hardly met)

Close in approximation to reading one of Jane's works, we sometimes leave the POV of the women and see inside such men as Mr. Collins, or the Colonel. That is a depth Jane did not give us, but it adds to the brushed that Ms Aminadra paints this canvas with.

Here we are taken to a part of time, (though the idea that the Colonel and other officers could leave the theater of war easily is perhaps something that wasn't researched as well as it could have been) in the latest stages of the Peninsula Campaign years, (Wellington being referred to as Duke which came after that was over) that I believe the author means to be about 1812 to 1813. Shortly after Lizzy has accepted the marriage proposal of Darcy.

Charlotte, our hero is faced with trials that aid her to grow, and to have Mr. Collins see his life afresh, for now he is more than the client of Lady Catherine, but a husband, and as all married couples hope, to perhaps one day be a father as well. Yet there must be conflict and here Ms Aminadra adds lacquer to her painting, adding depth and dimension and perhaps a modern way of thinking of flirtation and dalliance that puts her on a part that causes change from the canon at a more accelerated pace, and even a different pace than those last few paragraphs in Pride and Prejudice might have allowed.

Some of these changes a reader will either enjoy very much. some elements that are added may cause the reader to feel that the characters have progressed much as they should. Other readers fearing that any change to the themes of characterization that Austen left us with is sacrosanct may have difficulty here. My favorite Lady Catherine, is the one of Edna May Oliver in the Olivier/Garson version of P&P where at the very end we see Lady Catherine telling Darcy to go offer for Lizzy is just the challenge he will need. Huxley changed Austen's intention in that 1940 screen classic, but I think it adds to the mystique.

Charlotte is a worthy read and should be explored by those who like all P&P sequels, and I am interested to see where Ms Aminadra is able to take us with her Austenesque work as well.

Available at Amazon US or Amazon UK

Reviewed by David