I have been asked many times what possessed me to write a sequel to one of the most beloved novels in the English language. As time passes and hundreds of authors cast their own versions and continuations unto the fray, my answer remains unvarying.

The reason I wrote Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife was quite simple. I was so swept away by the BBC/A&E mini-series of Pride & Prejudice that I simply could not bear to have the story end. As no one else had dared to embark on such heresy, I did it myself (thus, inventing a literary genre).

It took no small amount of research. I read and reread all of Austen's other novels and several biographies. But it was a book of her letters to her sister Cassandra that really intrigued me. As I began to read other nonfiction about the Regency era, I was struck, not so much by what Jane Austen told us, but what she did not. As remarkable a writer as she was, Miss Austen wrote only of what a respectable unmarried woman in Regency society would be privy to. Her books end with the lovers’ wedding ceremony.

For many of us, that is not the end, but the beginning of life's story. Regrettably, in ending P&P on the cusp of what undoubtedly would be a marriage of unrivaled passion, she has left many of her readers with a case of literary coitus interruptus.

While I was the first, many others have written their own versions of the story. I wrote mine with nothing if not a sense of fun. Indeed, I longed to imagine what Darcy might have whispered into Lizzy's ear – so to speak - in their nuptial chamber. Others fall into a swoon at the notion of such sacrilege.

If you, Dear Reader, happen to fall into the latter category, please heed this caution before you read any of my sequels: Hang onto your bonnet, you're in for a bumpy ride.