As in this author’s previous books, the characters in this book are those found in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice plus others he has introduced in previous books, however, familiarity with the previous books is not needed.
Elizabeth Bennet is assumed to be the daughter of Mr. Bennet’s older brother and his wife, who have died and her guardianship passed to Mr. Bennet when she was only two years old. Thus she was brought up with the four Bennet daughters and treated as one of the family. Her birth mother was the daughter of a baronet and the niece of an earl. Through her maternal grandparents, Elizabeth is accepted as a member of upper class society in London, but, because of her closeness to Mr. Bennet and Jane, the eldest Bennet daughter, she chose to remain living most of the time at Longbourn until coming out in London society at the age of 18. As this story begins, it is almost two years after Elizabeth’s coming out, Mr. Bennet has also passed, the estate has been entailed to Col. Stanley Bennet, a distant cousin, who, with her maternal grandfather, was named her joint guardian in Mr. Bennet’s will, and she is still living at Longbourn because of the dying request of Mr. Bennet.
As in the original Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth first meets Mr. Darcy at an assembly in Meryton, where he is immediately captivated by her. The book follows Elizabeth’s struggles as she tries to determine who she favors among several suitors, one of whom is, of course, the inimitable Mr. Darcy. There is no question she would be a suitable wife for him, but there are several others of equal status to Darcy who also find her enchanting. Along the way, she must avoid being compromised by the wicked Lord Cotsworth, one of those who want to marry her, and decide whether eventually being a duchess is worth compromising her aspiration to only marry for love.