Who Needs Mr Darcy? by Jean Burnett

“Who Needs Mr Darcy?” is the debut book from Jean Burnett.

Mr Wickham turned out to be a disappointing husband in many ways, the most notable being his early demise on the battlefields of Waterloo. And so Lydia Wickham, nee Bennet, still not twenty and ever-full of an enterprising spirit, must make her fortune independently.

A lesser woman, without Lydia’s natural ability to flirt uproariously on the dancefloor and cheat seamlessly at the card table, would swoon in the wake of a dashing highwayman, a corrupt banker and even an amorous Royal or two. But on the hunt for a marriage that will make her rich, there’s nothing that Lydia won’t turn her hand to…

Taking in London, Paris and Brighton, Who Needs Mr Darcy? details the charming, lively and somewhat dastardly further exploits of the youngest Bennet sister. Pride and Prejudice this isn’t and Mr Darcy certainly won’t be rescuing her this time.

I would have loved to have said that I enjoyed this book, but sadly this was not the case. Written in the first person through the eyes of Lydia, I found it a a struggle to get into the story and then when I finally got into it and began to enjoy the flow of the storyline and characters, I quickly fell out of it again.

I found all the characters quite dislikable particularly Lydia herself, as she came across quite shallow, greedy and seemed consumed with the need to find a wealthy man, and it seemed that everyone around her seemed to share that same opinion. The character that I only seemed to warm was, Mrs Makepeace, who becomes Lydia’s companion. She was quite a fascinating elderly lady who enjoyed regaling Lydia with stories of her youth and travel, and tried to live her life vicariously through the young woman.

“Who Needs Mr Darcy?” is quite an original concept with a quirky storyline and has quite a beautiful cover, regretfully this book was not the book for me but is perfect for “Pride and Prejudice” fans who are curious to see what happened next to the young Bennett sister.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”0751547042″ target=”_blank” ] Who Needs Mr Darcy? on Amazon [/amazon_link] and other good bookshops.