The Courtship of Edward Gardiner: A Pride & Prejudice Prequel in Austen Variations

Oct 07, 2016 Sheila Majczan rated it it was amazing

This variation is a charming tale in which the author brings into the picture many of the persons we have met in canon. However it is with imagination and a skill to stay true to the behaviors we meet in Pride and Prejudice. We have at first a man disappointed in love dragged along on a needed journey to attend to Bennet’s sick brother that we read of Edward Gardiner's introduction to the lovely Madeline. This is a young lady who helps her father in his trade and thus is no wilting flower.

Bennet This variation is a charming tale in which the author brings into the picture many of the persons we have met in canon. However it is with imagination and a skill to stay true to the behaviors we meet in Pride and Prejudice. We have at first a man disappointed in love dragged along on a needed journey to attend to Bennet’s sick brother that we read of Edward Gardiner's introduction to the lovely Madeline. This is a young lady who helps her father in his trade and thus is no wilting flower.

Bennet has brought along 7-year-old Lizzy and her older sister, Jane. The latter becomes ill and can travel no further than Lambton. Edward offers to stay with the girls as Bennet must attend his brother. Left with two young girls who need separate attentions, Edward is referred to Miss Fairbank by the innkeeper’s wife as he seeks assistance. Eyebrows are raised at Lizzy’s impertinent and sometimes, unending questions. While some think Mrs. Bennet must be an attentive mother to have spawned Jane with her angelic looks and demure manners.

While the center romance is almost a love-at-first-sight tale; both persons are shy and hesitant to be forward as it seems this stay in Lambton is to be only of a few days length. During this interlude we spend some time at Pemberley and witness Darcy’s relationships with his 3-year-old sister, with sly Wickham and with his father, whose attentions to Georgiana are sparse. Darcy attempts to find time to give Georgiana the love and care she is missing and when a hail storm catches them away from home the nearest refuge is…the inn in Lambton. Being a fly on the wall and seeing Darcy gets some come-uppance from a girl too smart for her petticoats is sure to have the readers smiling from ear-to-ear. But we also learn that even at a young age attitudes can be mellowed.

Lady Catherine makes a short appearance and I just loved how she was handled by her brother-in-law and how a little girl advertised the “worth” of this “Lady” to the town. Edward Gardiner is also caught out in the storm and he, on the other hand, shows how a man with true character should act, even with those of a different class.

The author answered one question I had while reading when she gives us a short Epilogue and a visit to the Rose and Crown Inn is again made by newlyweds and relatives. While ODC’s time together at the Inn when ages 14 and 7 was contentious, do you think the couple might remember it and attach different meanings even as they can now both claim relations such as Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner?

Nicole Clarkston was indeed clever as she brought together in new but not unrealistic ways the people we all know and most of whom we love from Pride and Prejudice. Well done.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Mar 10, 2017 wosedwew rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2023, book-reviews, owned-books, 2024, 2016

though love be a day and life be nothing, it shall not stop kissing. ~e.e. cummings

I love the Gardiners -- and now I know why!

Edward Gardiner takes a trip with his brother-In-law and nieces following his heartbreak over an unsuccessful courtship. His delay in Lambton is fortunate and he seizes his destiny.

The story also foreshadows two future romances -- can you guess whose?

Oddly enough, Elizabeth meets Wickham and immediately dislikes him -- hmmm, she was such a clever child!

A very sweet story ...more

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Oct 03, 2016 Don Jacobson rated it it was amazing

NOTE: I was given an ARC in exchange for a fair review.

Wow…this is one of those books about which I say, “I wish I had written that!” She pushes the Gardiner story backwards which adds a wonderful dimension of understanding to the development of Jane and Lizzy in Pride & Prejudice.

Clarkston offers a compelling portrait of Edward and successfully shapes his character as a young businessman. I particularly enjoyed the sentimentality she built into him (when he finds a way to aid Mr. Ryan in spite NOTE: I was given an ARC in exchange for a fair review.

Wow…this is one of those books about which I say, “I wish I had written that!” She pushes the Gardiner story backwards which adds a wonderful dimension of understanding to the development of Jane and Lizzy in Pride & Prejudice.

Clarkston offers a compelling portrait of Edward and successfully shapes his character as a young businessman. I particularly enjoyed the sentimentality she built into him (when he finds a way to aid Mr. Ryan in spite of Mae’s defection, for instance). Yes, I know, she sought to toughen Edward with the “saving me from a great mistake” line, but he has shown such a concern for people throughout the book (Jane, the Shepherds and Mr. Fairbanks) that one cannot help but believe that he did not wish to see Miss Rutherford punished for not accepting him when he proposed. If Ms Clarkston had done so, she would have cast him as a smaller man…much like Collins…rather than the Edward Gardiner we love in the Canon.

Ms Clarkston sketches young Madeline Fairbank’s mental acuity leavened by tenderness very well. Her tumbling into love with Edward is a cross-class echo of the Lizzy/Darcy love story. That is a favorite theme of mine. Human beings are just that. Irrespective of class, they live and love. All too often Regency works cast gentility as the only class capable of warmth and love (the aristocracy is far to full of itself to be anything but conceited and lower class types are often sullen and resentful pawns of their “betters.”). Ms Clarston gave a man and a woman from trade every positive trait in fully three-dimensional characters. We as readers are better for it.

She has no wasted characters. Even Mr. Lawrence. He has a reason to be there. Thank you! One of my pet peeves.

I loved how she offered the logic behind why the storm would have been so damaging to the Lambton economy! That warms this historian’s heart! Excellent!

Overall, I feel Ms Clarkston has created a great story. It moves the whole Canon ahead, I think. While a “what if,” it would only have been such if she had gone over the edge with the characters. She did not. she offered a truly logical (admittedly with an event train that was needed to move it ahead) suggestion as to how Edward and Madeline met and married that could comfortably have fit in Jane Austen’s mind.

Put this one on your Wish List!
...more

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Nov 29, 2016 Anna added it · review of another edition

Shelves: austenesque

Nicole Clarkston’s newest novel, The Courtship of Edward Gardiner, is a prequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice that centers on Mrs. Bennet’s brother, Edward Gardiner. Mr. Gardiner has worked hard to build up his business in trade in London and finally has the means to support a family. After being rejected by a Miss Rutherford, a brokenhearted Mr. Gardiner finds himself on the way to Sheffield with his brother-in-law, Thomas Bennet, and his oldest daughters, eight-year-old Jane and seven-y Nicole Clarkston’s newest novel, The Courtship of Edward Gardiner, is a prequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice that centers on Mrs. Bennet’s brother, Edward Gardiner. Mr. Gardiner has worked hard to build up his business in trade in London and finally has the means to support a family. After being rejected by a Miss Rutherford, a brokenhearted Mr. Gardiner finds himself on the way to Sheffield with his brother-in-law, Thomas Bennet, and his oldest daughters, eight-year-old Jane and seven-year-old Elizabeth. When Jane falls ill, the uncle and his nieces are forced to stay in the village of Lambton while Mr. Bennet journeys toward his ill brother. It is in Lambton that Mr. Gardiner meets Madeline Fairbanks, the daughter of a bookkeeper who has been hired to care for the Bennet sisters during their stay in the village.

Mr. Gardiner is almost immediately captivated by Miss Fairbanks. After all, she is sweet, kind, and clever, and while other young ladies are worried about gowns and ribbons, Madeline helps her ailing father with his business. In short, she is the woman Edward has been waiting for but didn’t believe truly existed. But how are they to build any sort of relationship when he will be heading back to London in a matter of days?

The Courtship of Edward Gardiner is a charming novel that puts Elizabeth’s favorite aunt and uncle in the spotlight and imagines how they might have met. I adored Edward and Madeline, as well as the Madeline’s dear friend, Mrs. Porter, the innkeeper. It was also fascinating to get a glimpse of Elizabeth as a rambunctious, outspoken little girl, and especially to see a 14-year-old Fitzwilliam Darcy as he helps his little sister through their grief after their mother’s passing, struggles to keep his pride in check, and begins to understand all of the responsibilities he will one day have as Master of Pemberley. A young Lizzy and Darcy butting heads during a hailstorm, and Mr. Bennet having his fun at Lady Catherine’s expense were some of my favorite scenes.

I generally enjoy when authors put Austen’s secondary characters at the forefront, and Clarkston’s novel is the first I’ve seen that focuses on the Gardiners. The Courtship of Edward Gardiner is a delightful tale, with plenty of humor and excitement mixed in with the romance. This is the first book I’ve read by Clarkston, but it definitely won’t be the last!

Review posted on Diary of an Eccentric

I received a free copy of this book for review. ...more

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Mar 12, 2017 Joana Starnes rated it it was amazing

A delightful tale that leads the reader not only through the courtship and eventual marriage of Elizabeth’s dearest uncle and aunt, but also through the childhood and teenage years of our favourite characters. As we would imagine, Elizabeth is a spirited little imp who sometimes tries her loving family’s patience, but also nettles a certain young lad from Derbyshire. The glimpses into the youngsters Elizabeth and Darcy used to be are heart-warming in every way, and it’s equally heart-warming to ...more

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Nov 07, 2016 Nicole Barton Sasser rated it really liked it

Shelves: review-on-amazon, physical-library, p-and-p, signed-by-author, arc, gift-from-author, jaff, 2016-austenesque-lovers-challenge, for-review, kindle-doc

Status: Read October 6-12, 2016

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Review:
The Courtship of Edward Gardiner is a lovely prequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, in where we get to see how Elizabeth’s only example of a happy marriage meet and fall in love.

Prequels to canon are not abundant in the JAFF world. However, I have always adored the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner and looked forward to experiencing their beginning written by an author I enjoy. Nicole Clarkston did a wonderful job and even surprised me. ...more

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Dec 23, 2016 Dung rated it it was amazing

Shelves: austen-inspried, favorite-austen-inspired, books-owned-kindle-ibook

Definitely one of my favorite JAFF book of the year. So happy that the Gardiners are given some page time. Loved the way the author introduces some of our favorite P&P characters.

Would love to read the years in between their marriage and the start of P&P.

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Dec 07, 2023 Nina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: jaff

4,5 stars rounded up to 5.

This is a charming and delightful story of how Edward and Madeleine Gardiner met in Lambton.
Edward is traveling with Mr Bennet, Jane and Elizabeth, when Jane is taken ill. Madeleine is persuaded to look after the girls while Mr Bennet continues his trip to his brother.
Both Edward and Madeleine are quickly smitten with each other. While there Mr Darcy, Georgiana, Wickham and even Mr Bingley is introduced into the story. Lizzie and Darcy have their first chess match and ...more

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Apr 27, 2019 Michelle David rated it liked it · review of another edition

Lovely

A wonderful variation inspired by author Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice by Nicole Clarkston. This lovely prequel tell the story of how the Gardiner’s met.

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Nov 17, 2022 Craftyhj rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio, yes, zz2022jaff

Quite charming

Such a delight from a trusted author, this book gives us an insight into why Aunt and Uncle Gardiner were Jane and Elizabeth's favourites as well as why their marriage was the example the girls both wished for themselves.

As well as the gentle romance between the Gardiners the reader is also treated to a peek at the main protagonists of Pride and Prejudice as children. These are real children not the plaster saints that many authors fall into the trap producing and the first meeting ...more

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