The Truth About Family

A friends to lovers variation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

De: Lucy Marin

Narrado por: Stevie Zimmerman

Banished from longbourn at a young age, Elizabeth Bennet is raised among the Fitzwilliams at the Romsley estate, growing up alongside Fitzwilliam Darcy and his cousins. Entering adulthood, Elizabeth soon finds herself in possession of a secret love for him that even she knows is futile, and she must settle for his friendship.

Seeing that Elizabeth Bennet has become a pretty young woman, Darcy’s mother, Lady Anne, and her sister are desperate to separate her from Darcy. Elizabeth returns to Longbourn for the first time in 15 years, where her hopes of finding a loving family are quickly dashed. She is relieved and embarrassed when Darcy and his cousins join her in Hertfordshire, though she is determined to set aside her tender feelings for him.

Darcy is frantic with worry about Elizabeth while they are apart. No one is more shocked than he is when he realizes the true depth of his feelings for her. He sets off to convince her to love him and accept a life as his wife. Will his mother’s hostility prove too great an obstacle?

©2022 Lucy Marin (P)2023 Quills & Quartos Publishing

Bad Lady Ann

Very unbelievable premise - Mrs. Bennett gives Elizabeth away at age 5 because she is irritating. But it creates the opportunity for Elizabeth to be raised by relatives of Darcy's parents. These relatives are good people, but Darcy's mother (Lady Ann) and Lady Katherine are horrible. They resent their family taking in little Elizabeth because they believe she is of inferior birth and "taints" the family. When 20 year old Elizabeth visits her "real" family, she finds them to be most lacking in character and affection. Poor Elizabeth. But Darcy dreadfully misses Elizabeth when she leave to see her "real" family and finds out that he is in love with her. I did not find that Lady Ann improved much even when she relented in her dislike of Elizabeth. She only relented because Darcy forced her to do so. A new character, named Rebecca, was introduced and I like her very much. She is the new and improved Jane personality.

It was an enjoyable read!

I liked the additional characters that were added in, and LOVED that we didn’t need to focus on the Bingley sisters too much. Well written, in the trued Janeite style.

Unique take

The only thing this story was missing is Elizabeth telling off the Bennett family, especially Mrs Bennett!

Great read

This was a different story. Elizabeth was banished as a small child due to Mrs Bennet. The Bennets were a bad lot. Poor Elizabeth. But a great story and great narrating. Great Jaff

Emotional funny moments

Love this narrator. This story is emotionally charged and you hear it through the narration. Happy ending, but extremely rocky and middle relationship for our couple. Love the theme family doesn’t have to be blood.

Fostered out elsewhere Elizabeth

Elizabeth is fostered out by her father to a dowager countess friend of her grandmother. However, she never returns to the Bennet household. Elizabeth is raised amongst the ton (Fitzwilliams, Darcys & De Bourgh) with all the education and benefits. Circumstances happen courtesy of Lady Anne Darcy and her dragon of a sister Lady Catherine that turn Lizzy's life upside down.

Stevie narration you can't go wrong. Well written.

Great take on what family means

I really enjoyed! Great definition of what makes a family and lovely story. I enjoyed the change in formula and the idea of how some of the Bennets were altered based on not having Elizabeth’s influence all those years.

Elizabeth finds real love & acceptance

This story is out of canon (Lady Anne is here and plays a critical role but no Georgiana) but hits many of the P&P points. Elizabeth is sent away at the age of 5 to help settle her mother's famous nerves in hopes that the next child will be a boy. Needless to say that she stayed away for 15 years, in that time she lives with her foster family and throughout this story Elizabeth and those around her come to realize what family truly means and blood has nothing to do with it. I LOVE her "brothers" & "sister". Having adopted family members in my own family I can say that "blood" can be irrelevant when you have an open heart. There are lots of emotional things that Elizabeth has to process in finding her place in the world and who is her true family (and yes a tear or two can be shed for her). And to top it all off, Stevie Zimmerman as usual smashes out the performance!

Elizabeth’s banishment from the Bennet family.

I loved it even if it was heartbreaking story. Elizabeth learns the true meaning of family. The narrator was perfect!

Excellent Story and narration

Stevie Zimmerman is excellent as always.

Expect some new Darcy family relations and a Fitzwilliam foster family for Elizabeth when she is banished from Longbourn at the age of five because Mrs Bennet did not care for her. She is sent to live with the dowager countess, Lady Romley (Fitzwilliam), a childhood friend of her paternal grandmother, and mother to Lady Anne Darcy and Lady Catherine de Bourgh. The latter two did not like her and worried Elizabeth would one day “take advantage of her good fortune in living amongst them”, because they saw her as inferior to their society and a threat to their plan to have their own children marry.

When the dowager countess dies, at the age of ten Elizabeth becomes a ward of the Earl and Countess of Romsley, parents to Col. Fitzwilliam and Viscount Bramwell. The senior Mr Darcy wanted her to live at Pemberley, but Lady Anne refused.

There is a tight Darcy/Fitzwilliam bond between all the cousins and Elizabeth. Rebecca (daughter to Mr. Darcy senior’s brother) and Elizabeth are sisters of the heart, and Colonel Fitzwilliam and Viscount Bramwell are as brothers to their foster sister. Darcy and Elizabeth have always been friends, with the extended family visits throughout the years.

Lady Anne Darcy and Lady Catherine provide the angst in this book as Elizabeth approaches her majority. They want Darcy to marry Anne de Bourgh and are determined to make it happen. Elizabeth escapes to Longbourn, seeking refuge with her Bennet family and hoping to know her true parents and sisters, especially Jane, who held Elizabeth’s strongest memories as a little girl. A life without Elizabeth most of her life resulted in a Jane more influenced by Mrs. Bennet—not exactly a mean girl, but not altogether nice either, especially towards Elizabeth. She is also often mortified by the conduct of her mother and sisters.

Darcy and the cousins come to know her location and try to convince her to return to the family who loves her. Elizabeth isn’t yet convinced of the truth of that and she determines to make her own decisions from now on. She will come to see that blood ties do not necessarily define the true meaning of a loving family.

A favourite author, Ms. Marin once again provides a different story for her audience in this friends to lovers vagary. I absolutely loved the Darcy/Fitzwilliam family dynamic. I loved to hate Anne Darcy and Lady Catherine. Darcy is wonderful throughout in his loyalty and support of Elizabeth, especially when he discovers his mother’s deceit. He is also not afraid to remind Lady Anne who the Master of Pemberley is either. The bond of friendship and family among the three male cousins is true and often diverting. They help Darcy along in coming to realize his love for Elizabeth extends beyond friendship—Elizabeth has long loved him.

I was riveted to this memorable and compelling read. I wished I could reach into the pages and hug Elizabeth myself, as she yearned to be wanted and loved, searching for a real home. The writing is fluid, has good dialogue and an evocative plot. The character portrayals are excellent—the good people and the baddies. I loved it all, and highly recommend it.

Clean content.