I was delighted when I stumbled upon the Jane Austen society of Ireland, not only a community of like-minded individuals, but in my locality to boot!
My admiration of Jane Austen goes back a very long way, in truth ‘I cannot fix on the spot, or the hour, or the look or the words that laid the foundation’. I love all of her work, but my absolute favourite novel is Pride and Prejudice.
Every time I turned the last page of that timeless classic I was plagued with curiosity about what might have become of my favourite characters. Eventually I determined to create my own continuation of Elizabeth and Darcy's story, purely for my own pleasure. In my naivety I thought such an undertaking was an original idea: I had never heard of fan fiction, or canon, and I knew nothing of the plethora of sequels and variations that are readily available.
Every time I turned the last page of that timeless classic I was plagued with curiosity about what might have become of my favourite characters. Eventually I determined to create my own continuation of Elizabeth and Darcy's story, purely for my own pleasure. In my naivety I thought such an undertaking was an original idea: I had never heard of fan fiction, or canon, and I knew nothing of the plethora of sequels and variations that are readily available.
When I began my story my foremost consideration was that I would remain as faithful to the spirit of the original as possible. No fantastical adventures, no explicit sexual encounters, and absolutely no twenty-first century morals or convictions. The language and phrases should be as authentic as possible, and the characters would behave, well, in character.
My original intention was to merely pen a description of Elizabeth and Darcy’s blissfully happy marriage in about 2000 words, but to my chagrin other characters would keep intruding. At last I realised I had several unanticipated sub plots: somehow, I don’t quite know how, my little story had become a full blown novel!
I titled my story Fidelity & Affection and once completed to my satisfaction I put it aside, occasionally reading it and rewriting it as the fancy took me. Eventually, with the encouragement of my family and no expectations whatever I entered it into a national novel writing competition in association with the RTE guide, and to my astonishment it was short-listed into the final five. The judges were very enthusiastic and complimentary about my story, which encouraged me to self-publish on Amazon, where I have achieved some modest success.
If you are looking for a heartfelt continuation of Pride and Prejudice written in an authentic style by an amateur, though very passionate Jane Austen fan, Fidelity and Affection might just be the sequel for you.
Yve Turner
