amazon.com  Library Binding - 263 pages  (March 1995) MacMillan Publishing Company; ISBN: 0786204184 Audio Book

amazon.co.uk Paperback - 186 pages (21 Sept 1995) Sceptre; ISBN: 0340628065

amazon.ca Paperback - 208 pages (21 Sept 1995) Sceptre; ISBN: 0340628065 Audio Book

To borrow from a review of Pemberley from this page (Linda's review to be exact,) "The plot resembles a badly written soap opera."  In this book, (among other things) Darcy's son marries barmaid (or some character like that), Col. Fitzwilliam (who has apparently never married and lives in some cottage, still pining for Lizzie) marries a noblewoman who is cattier than the Queen of
Spiteful herself (Caroline Bingley.)  Another touching plot twist: Darcy's steward is in love with Lizzie.

Darcy metamorphoses completely from the Fitzwilliam we all know and love from Jane Austen.  He changes into this cold, scheming, arrogant, haughty man that he appears to be in the beginning of Pride and Prejudice.  This time, he really (supposedly) is that way.

My advice:  Don't even look at this book.  The characters we all know and love in Pride and Prejudice totally are butchered in this horrific novel.  It is so bad, I cried at the sad ending (spoiler) where it turns out that Darcy and Lizzie are in an unequal marriage (Lizzie is superior, and her father's statement rings true,) and Lizzie no longer cares for her Fitzwilliam.

Altogether I would advise people if they want a sequel about Darcy and Elizabeth as parents, they would do nothing wrong by sitting down and writing their own.  Anything was better than this.

I read this book hoping only to possibly redeem Ms. Tennant in the slightest way for having written the tripe that is  Pemberley .  In that way, I suppose, all my expectations were satisfied.  The best thing I can say about this book is that it does not descend to the depths of vulgarity to which Pemberley sank.  (The insipidity and dullness Tennant instills in my dearest, loveliest Elizabeth, however, still reigns supreme in  An Unequal Marriage.)

The rave review blurb by Lady Antonia Fraser featured on the covers of both books -- "Emma Tennant's exploration of the marriage of Elizabeth Bennet to Mr. Darcy is both authentic and convincing as a sequel to Pride and Prejudice and as up to date as a description of the marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales"  -- leads me to believe either that Lady Antonia Fraser has never read Pemberley and An Unequal Marriage, or that she has never read Pride and Prejudice.

Furthermore, without meaning any disrespect to the late Princess, I think the comparison of the two marriages is apt when it comes to An Unequal Marriage.  This is the problem.  My Elizabeth and Darcy would not have such a marriage.  Didn't they settle it between themselves that they were to be the happiest couple in the world?

And where, dare I ask, is Georgiana?  Apparently Georgiana has been abducted by aliens and everyone's memory has been wiped clean of her, because I remember no reference to her whatsoever in An Unequal Marriage.  However, after Tennant's bad choice in making Georgiana a giggling protégé of Caroline Bingley in Pemberley, I suppose I should count that as a blessing.

The one part of this book that did bring a short-lived smile to my face was seeing Caroline Bingley a lonely, dependent spinster, getting her jollies by talking about other people's misfortunes. This smile was promptly replaced by a frown when Elizabeth fails miserably in parrying her attacks--maybe the real Elizabeth has been abducted by aliens too, and is out in the universe somewhere with Georgiana.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: thank goodness for the Republic of Pemberley and the Bits of Ivory board--and for all the folks there who show an understanding of Austen's characters.

An Unequal Marriage, however, was just truely...uh...well...very unbelievable.    And while I hate to be critical of anyone of my own sex, I just don't have anything to say to recommend this book to anyone.  The portrayals of Darcy and Elizabeth were so far from the original, that they could hardly be recognized...(with the exception of the fact that even over approximately 18 years, their appearance hadn't seemed to change in the slightest).  I perceive Unequal to be an attempt to emulate JA's style of writing, but most definitely lacking the imagination and thought that was so evident in the original.  A friend of mine, an English teacher simply cringed as he read the passages, calling it a soap opera.  I've always hated being negative about anything, but this book is just bad.

I have read many sequels to Pride and Prejudice. My mother saw Pemberley in the libary one day and borrowed it because she knew I'd like to read it. I read it and I didn't find it; too offensive at the time. I yearned to read more, so I visted Linda's page and uncovered a number of sequels at my libary. I was pleasantly pleased with all of them more so than Pemberley. Some were not quite in line with JA's characters but enough to satisfy me, who gets quite obsessive about things,  and has to read/watch more.
However, I borrowed a book from my Libary called An Unequal Marriage I was distraught. utterly and completly I read the book so fast so that I could put it down and be done with it. was not so good but this was complete tosh. Is any one else of the opinion that it completely obliterates the image of Darcy?

For the rest, both novels, which appear to have been churned out at speed, seem not to have anything to do with the characters Jane Austen created so lovingly and developed over so many years, Elizabeth and Darcy behave like characters out of Dynasty or Days of our Lives! For goodness sake, Darcy after his total reclamation in Pride and Prejudice,  reverts like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde into a terrible, arrogant cold hearted caricature. As for Lizzie, my favourite woman in all
fiction, she has gone completely crazy- allowing herself to be flattered by some nit wit and imagining, like some silly creature in a Mills and Boon novel, that her husband has been unfaithful and even accuses him of producing an illegitimate son!!!

It is difficult to believe that the author has spent even a day studying the characters she so conveniently takes over.