These Dreams: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

Can a marriage of convenience ever lead to true love? Immediately after Elizabeth Bennet refuses Mr. Darcy's proposal at Hunsford, her father dies, leaving Longbourn entailed away and little fortune to sustain his widow and daughters. Six months later, the Bennet family receives a visitor with a most unusual offer that promises to save the family from financial and social ruin.

The course of true love never did run smooth.... When Fitzwilliam Darcy departs Hunsford after his disastrous proposal to Elizabeth Bennet, he does not expect their paths to cross again. Indeed, knowing the lady's true feelings for him, he makes every effort to see that they do not. But when a chance encounter leaves him stranded in an abandoned cottage with the one woman he can never have, Darcy quickly realizes there is more at risk than just Elizabeth's reputation.

Mr. Darcy arrives at Longbourn, intending to correct the mistakes he made during his disastrous proposal in Hunsford. To his horror, he learns Elizabeth Bennet was killed in a ship’s explosion off the coast of France - in an apparent act of sabotage. Deep in despair, he travels in disguise to wartime France to seek out the spy responsible for her death. But a surprise awaits Darcy in the French town of Saint-Malo: Elizabeth is alive! Recovering from a blow to the head, Elizabeth has no memory of her previous life, and a series of mistakes leads her to believe Darcy is her husband.

Pemberley’s ancient halls harbour many secrets. Which one will affect Fitzwilliam Darcy and the love of his life? How is Mr. Bennet to enjoy the comforts of a well-stocked library, when his wife’s premature demise had left him with the task of finding suitable matches for their daughters? And what of a misleading encounter on a muddy lane in Hertfordshire, that renders a country-town assembly rather more tolerable than some might have thought?  

Fitzwilliam Darcy is in a difficult situation. His father is pressing him to propose marriage to the last woman in the world he would wish to take as his wife. With a fortnight to announce his betrothal, he makes the acquaintance of Elizabeth Bennet, who is in a predicament of her own. Could Darcy be willing to consider Elizabeth as a solution to his problem and to hers? And can Elizabeth ascertain enough of Darcy's character to trust him upon nothing but a first impression? 

Elizabeth Bennet is drawn to a handsome, mysterious man she meets at a masquerade ball. However, she gives up all hope for a future with him when she learns he is the son of George Darcy, the man who ruined her father’s life. Fitzwilliam Darcy has struggled to carve out a life independent from his father’s vindictive temperament and domineering ways, although the elder Darcy still controls the purse strings. After meeting Elizabeth Bennet, Darcy cannot imagine marrying anyone else, even though his father despises her family. 

Drugged and betrayed in his own household, Fitzwilliam Darcy makes his escape from a forged compromise that would see him unhappily wed. Dressed as a footman, he is welcomed into one of London’s unknown neighborhoods by a young lady who is running out of time and running for her life. Deciding to hide in plain sight, Miss Elizabeth Bennet dodges the expectation to marry the man of her mother’s dreams. When the insolent footman she “found” refuses to leave her side until they can uncover a solution to their respective dilemmas.

Fitzwilliam Darcy is desperate. Finally confronted with a woman who ignites all his hopes, he agonizes over the cruel trick of fate which placed her in a situation beneath his notice. The morning after the Netherfield ball, he resolves to put as much distance between himself and her as possible.

After a mysterious accident leads to their father’s death, the future for the Bennet girls seems bleak. Elizabeth Bennet finds work in Ramsgate, and one blustery morning, chance brings her together with Georgiana Darcy, a young, wealthy, orphaned girl. When Elizabeth saves her new friend from ruin, she sets off a course of events that alters not only her own life, but the lives of those she cherishes. 

Well-read, observant, and spirited, a young Elizabeth Bennet draws the attention of a wealthy widower. When she finally meets Mr. Darcy, she outranks him. Of course, that doesn't stop him from insulting her. Married and wealthy, is she still beneath his notice? Elizabeth's high society connections create new opportunities for her sisters and, in turn, keep Darcy close to her family. When tragedy strikes, will Darcy rise to the occasion?

Rejected by a sister who has allowed her new status as wife to Mr. Bingley to make her proud, Elizabeth Bennet goes to her uncle's estate in Derbyshire, ostensibly to assist her cousin in her introduction to society. In reality, Elizabeth feels there is nothing left for her in the neighborhood of her birth. Her uncle's estate is small, and Elizabeth must work while there, and though she finds her tasks easy to bear. She quickly becomes close to her young cousin and uncle, though her aunt is a hard, demanding woman.

The Netherfield Ball: classic. Predictable. Immortalized. But what if Elizabeth were forced to relive it over and over and over again? Night after night after night? Elizabeth: clever. Witty. Confident. Suddenly, her confusion and desperation make her question things she long thought she knew. Mr. Darcy: proud. Unapproachable. Ill-tempered. In this world where nothing is as it seems, Elizabeth must learn to see through new eyes. Including a man she thought she hated. Let the hilarity ensue.

In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Fitzwilliam Darcy’s proposal to Elizabeth Bennet at Hunsford is disastrous. In Jan Hahn’s The Child, Darcy flees England soon afterward, striving to overcome his longing for her. Upon his return two years later, while standing on the steps of St. George’s Church in Hanover Square, he spies the very woman he has vowed to forget. But who is the child holding her hand? 

Miss Georgiana Darcy is need of a companion, and she would much rather not have Mrs. Younge. The recently bereaved Miss Elizabeth Bennet is in need of a position. When she accepts the one Mr. Darcy offers, she finds herself in his near-constant company and gets to know him at his best. Not as he would present himself to strangers in some remote corner of Hertfordshire, but as his nearest and dearest know him. An excellent brother, landlord, master. A wonderful man, noble, kind and impossibly handsome. So who falls in love first? What of Mr. Wickham and his dastardly ploys? And how is a lady's companion ever to have a future with one who could marry into the best houses in the land?

One of the turning points in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is Miss Elizabeth Bennet's passionate refusal and denunciation of the equally passionate but infinitely more repressed Fitzwilliam Darcy. However, unforeseen events can lead to the most unexpected consequences. During a visit with her friend, Charlotte Collins, at Hunsford, Elizabeth falls prey to illness for almost the first time in her life just as Mr. Darcy comes to call. Befuddled by her illness, she misinterprets his proposal of marriage, and a simple nod of acknowledgment is mistaken for acceptance.