About Linda
Berdoll
When I wrote my first sequel to Pride &
Prejudice, Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife, I had no idea
that I invented, for better or for worse, a new
literary genre - Jane Austen sequel. I am proud
to be a member of such a versatile collection of
authors and aficionados.
After writing MDTAW, I was content to rest on to
my laurels - and dodge the bric-a-brac - with no
thought of writing a sequel to my sequel.
Indeed, a reader once asked me why I killed off
some of the favourite characters from P&P in
MDTAW. Had I known I would be called upon to
write another, I certainly would have given the
matter more thought.
Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife
was originally self-published in 1999 as The
Bar Sinister. It sold 10,000 copies – I am
told a phenomenal number for a self-published
book. In 2004 Sourcebooks purchased the rights
and republished TBS under its original title.
Readership soared and, thanks to fans request
for more, in 2006 Linda penned Darcy &
Elizabeth: Nights and Days at Pemberley. It
was followed by The Ruling Passion,
chronicling the lives of Darcy and Elizabeth and
their young family in 2011.
She has just completed The Darcys: New
Pleasures.
Linda and her
husband happily abide outside Bee Cave, Texas,
where she dotes on her family and continues to
write.
At last count, over 400,000 of Linda's Pride &
Prejudice sequels are in print and e-book. Mr.
Darcy Takes a Wife has been printed in four
languages.
FAQs
1 What inspired you
to write a sequel to Pride and Prejudice?
2 How long
did it take you to write this book?
3 What
kinds of research did you do into the time period?
4 What
did you hope to accomplish with this sequel?
5
Is this book for Jane Austen purists?
6 What
sets Elizabeth apart from the other women in her
society?
7 Describe
Mr. Darcy. Why have so many women fallen in love
with him?
8 How did
you hope to portray them as a couple?
9 If Mr. Darcy Takes
a Wife was made into a movie, who would you like to
see play the roles of Darcy and Elizabeth?
* 1. What
inspired you to write a sequel to Pride and
Prejudice?
I began a
strictly imaginary trip immediately after viewing
the A&E production of Pride &Prejudice (I understand
I am not alone in that little flight of fancy.)
Rhapsodizing about Lizzy and Darcy impelled me to
revisit the book. Thoroughly enthralled, I devoured
all JA’s other novels, two biographies and a book of
her letters to her sister, Cassandra. Her letters
revealed far more of the real JA to me than her
novels.
My interest
then thoroughly piqued, I began to read about the
era. It was an age rich with scandal, intrigue and
war. JA’s characters begged a further telling.
Unfortunately, Jane Austen was long past elaborating
and even if she had, undoubtedly, she would not have
been explicit. I began to write to satisfy my own
curiosity.
* 2. How long did
it take you to write this book?
Oh, ages. As I
had never written fiction before, I kept re-writing
until it was finally wrested from my grip. If
Sourcebooks hadn’t had a deadline, I’d be re-writing
it yet. I like that line about writing a poem: It
is never finished, only abandoned.
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* 3. What kinds
of research did you do into the time period?
Beyond Jane
Austen’s novels and assorted biographies, I used a
few dry, but fascinating, works to research the
Georgian Era such as Sexual Life in England Past and
Present, England in the 19th Century, and The
Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800.
There are tons of resources for the Regency era
dress and manners on the web and in bookstores, but
a book that was a fascinating read on its own was An
Elegant Madness, by Venetia Murray. Other than the
usual history books, I also used such disparate
works as The Age of Napoleon, Ailments Through the
Ages, The History of Underclothes, The Regency
Clothes Book, History and Disease, A Dictionary of
British Folk Customs and various biographies such as
Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, by Amanda
Patten to fill in the blanks.
* 4. What did you
hope to accomplish with this sequel?
Back to the top of the questions
To find out
what really happened after the wedding vows.
* 5. Is this a
book for Jane Austen purists?
Only if
they can keep a firm grip on their smelling salts.
* 6. What sets
Elizabeth apart from the other women in her society?
In a society
that demanded deference and saw marriage as
primarily a financial arrangement, Elizabeth Bennet
spoke her mind, and followed her heart.
* 7. Describe Mr.
Darcy. Why have so many women fallen in love with
him?
Let me see.
He’s a tall, handsome-featured man, incredibly rich,
enormously arrogant with a magnificent heart – one
that he gives but once, and when he does, it’s
unconditionally.
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* 8. How did you
hope to portray them as a couple?
Desperately in
love.
* 9. If Mr. Darcy
Takes a Wife was made into a movie, who would you
like to see play the roles of Darcy and Elizabeth?
Colin
Firth and Jennifer Ehle will always be the
definitive Darcy and Elizabeth to me. It’s
difficult to think of anyone else in the roles.
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