An assembly such as this

I found this "companion" volume to Pride and Prejudice in a second hand bookshop and it seemed to have decent reviews so I picked it up. Read the entire trilogy on Friday, which comes to about 1000 pages; although that's a bit long, I think it would have been better combined into just one book. Aidan is attempting to write a parallel novel telling the story from Darcy's side. Both books start and end in the same place, but this trilogy invents a lot of substance about Darcy's life, including what he might have been doing after leaving Hertfordshire but before meeting Elizabeth again at Lady Catherine's, and then again how he deals with Elizabeth's rejection. Aiden invents some interesting characters, in particular Dy Brougham, and brings in more contemporary politics than Austen ever did. It's an entertaining story and decently written, but she has nothing close to Austen's wit with words, and the fact she is writing about Austen's characters unfortunately makes that lack stand out all the more obviously. She might be better writing something original with her own new characters where the contrast to Austen's writing won't overshadow her. Still, not the worst Austen companion story I have read and an interesting read if you love the original and want more.