The Pemberley Chronicles
by Rebecca Ann Collins

Paperback - 304 pages    1997
The Pink Panther
Web site
        Review by Matthew Pampling, September 24, 1998
 The Pemberley Chronicles is  just a continuation on from the end of Pride & Prejudice though with a few extra characters added along the way, mainly to provide matches for the unmarried characters in Pride & Prejudice (though poor Mary Bennet is still left out at the finish).

The good thing about this book is that the author doesn't attempt at all to emulate Jane Austen's style of writing. The story is still written largely in the third person, but without regency period language from the narrator. I found this to be much better than Presumption (which is the only other sequel I have read). The story is better, too, and the characters more like I envisage them from Pride & Prejudice (though others may disagree of course).

The author seems to take pains to eliminate all the less likable characters early on, so Mr. Collins and Mrs. Bennet both fall off the mortal coil quite quickly, leaving their long suffering spouses to enjoy their absence for years afterwards. All the popular characters survive and become very happy; so happy, in fact, that a lot of space is taken up on every third page or so telling us just how happy they are (which became very tedious after a while to me, though more sentimental readers may enjoy it).

Overall though, it is a very good read and almost a worthy sequel to Pride & Prejudice.

        Review by Carey, July 16, 1999
It is a must read sequel.  It is long but very enjoyable.  The characters remain essentially true to the impressions Jane Austen left us with, although I personally feel she would not have agreed with the events in Lizzy's life at the end of the book.... I'll say no more so as not to give it away!

The language the author uses is not sloppy (like Desire & Duty) but does not try to imitate Jane Austen, either.

Of all the sequels I've read to date, this one rates in the top 3!

           Comment by Jenny Scott, October 29, 1999
Whilst I enjoyed PEMBERLEY CHRONICLES, it did have an awful lot of births, deaths and marriages towards the end which were a little confusing. By this time I had drawn up my own family tree and reveled in the characters. I think that it is a great pity that these books have not been published worldwide as I feel they could have been best sellers.
           Comment by Jenny2, November 2, 1999
I liked the books, although they are not my favourites.I think they are a little bit too massive. Too many characters and all kind of plots are involved. The relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy is in the background somehow.
            Comment by Claudia Taylor, November 9, 1999
If I may be permitted to do a short burst of applause for a very much better quality piece of work- try Rebecca Ann Collins The Pemberley Chronicles and The Women of Pemberley, if you want a truly loving continuation of the stories of Darcy and Lizzie, Jane and Bingley and many others. All your favourite characters behaving as you and I expect them to do, in the context of a changing world- Britain in post napoleonic Europe, with the industrial revolution and the expansion of the empire as the background to their lives.  Its far more exhilarating stuff. I loved it .
        Review by Linda Waldemar, March 20, 2000
The Pemberley Chronicles is exactly what the title advertises; a chronicle of the life at Pemberley. The narrative starts immediately  following the wedding of the Bingleys and Darcys and continues until 1840.  We follow their lives and the lives of the Gardiners and Fitzwilliams, and to a lesser degree, the Collins's.  All these families eventually end up in Derbyshire.

There is no destruction of Jane Austen's characters.  Jane Bennet Bingley remains calm, loving, considerate and always thinking the best of everyone.  She and Elizabeth remain extremely close and share all their happiness, sadness, joys and concerns.  We see little of Elizabeth's wit, but the narrator tells the reader that she frequently teases her husband.  All the couples we meet have happy marriages and wonderful children.  The main characters are all good, caring and understanding, and Mr. Darcy is a paragon!  The few mentioned who are not good (including Lydia and Wickham) are only bad with no redeeming characteristics.  In fact, I found all the characters to be one dimensional.

It is a very pleasant chronicle which includes many marriages and births and some deaths; all in the natural order of things.

While pleasant, I did not find this to be an easy read.  I do recommend this book but you may need to make notes or a family tree in order to keep the characters straight.  I must reread and do just that before I can tackle the next book in the series.

        Written by Kathreen (5/20/2002 5:30 p.m.)
I have read the first two P&P sequels by rebecca collins and I didn't care for them at all. They were not realistic, everyone was sickenly sweet she just kept going over and over how nice everyone was and what wonderful marriages they had. all of the main characters children marry each other and their children marry each other. You almost need to draw a pedigree chart to keep everyone straight. She does touch on issues of the times but not in a realistic way.
        Written by Jo Keenan (4/2/2003 9:00 p.m.)
The other series of P&P sequels I've tried is the Pemberley Chronicles series by Rebecca Ann Collins. These are fine, but there are some flaws. The Pemberley Chronicles was written in a way that, initially it appears, it meant to be the only book, but there have been 5 more, each focussing on a different member of Lizzie's family (cousins, sisters, nephews, even daughter). Lizzie, Darcy and families seem constantly beset by tragedy and towards the end of the series you have to suspend disbelief as the years go by well into the 1850's and you wonder how some of the older characters can even be still alive. Not bad, but not great, either. If you're really a fan, they're worth a look.
        Written by Jo Keenan (4/2/2003 9:00 p.m.)
The other series of P&P sequels I've tried is the Pemberley Chronicles series by Rebecca Ann Collins. These are fine, but there are some flaws. The Pemberley Chronicles was written in a way that, initially it appears, it meant to be the only book, but there have been 5 more, each focussing on a different member of Lizzie's family (cousins, sisters, nephews, even daughter). Lizzie, Darcy and families seem constantly beset by tragedy and towards the end of the series you have to suspend disbelief as the years go by well into the 1850's and you wonder how some of the older characters can even be still alive. Not bad, but not great, either. If you're really a fan, they're worth a look. 
        Written by Lynne Robson (4/14/2003 3:59 p.m.)
I got the Pemberley Chronicles Series after it was recommended by a friend. I felt after reading the first two books that I had totally wasted my money. They are more like reading a History book with P & P characters added to them, I must say I was really very disappointed with them as they do not tell you much about Darcy, Elizabeth, Bingley and Jane's family life but talks too much about life in England at the time.