A Will of Iron by Linda Beutler Published by Meryton Press on July 6, 2015
Genres: Austenesque
Pages: 246 pages
Format: eARC
Buy the Book • Goodreads
From the Author of The Red Chrysanthemum.
Only days after his disastrous proposal, the untimely death of Anne de Bourgh draws Fitzwilliam Darcy and his cousin Colonel Alexander Fitzwilliam back to
Rosings Park before Elizabeth Bennet has left the neighborhood. Their return finds Rosings swathed in mourning. In death, Anne is revealed as having lived a rich life of the mind, and she plotted rather constantly to escape her loathsome mother, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Anne’s journal—spirited into the hands of Elizabeth and Charlotte Collins—holds her candid observations on life and her family. It also exposes her final, and sadly fatal, means of outwitting her mother. Anne’s Last Will and Testament, with its peculiar bequests, sends Lady Catherine into a tailspin and throws into turmoil every relationship amongst the Bennets, Darcys, Fitzwilliams, Collinses, and even the Bingleys! Was Anne de bourgh a shrewder judge of character than Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzilliam Darcy combined?
Includes mature content.
Death, scandal, and intrigue…A Will of Iron was very original and inventive. Linda Beutler writes Pride and Prejudice adaptions without fear, without trepidation and does so with such grace and civility.
This book starts off with a bang. As it plays out you are immersed in this saga wondering what in the world is happening in this twisted P&P and where it may be going. Told through Anne’s journals we are introduced and get to know a very different Anne than the one we have always known. I always thought Anne had to be an unhappy person living with a mother like Lady Catherine and boy does this story give you an eye opener. Lady Catherine is even more evil than we have ever thought her to be in this adaption, I kind of liked that.
Lies, deceit, murder and romance all come together as the story unfolds and when all secrets are revealed I couldn’t help but marvel at this plot and outcome of this story.
I enjoyed A Will of Iron, I cannot wait to see what Ms. Beutler comes up with next!
