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The Courtship of Edward Gardiner: A Pride & Prejudice Prequel
Nicole Clarkston (Goodreads Author)
4.27 · Rating details · 158 ratings · 39 reviews
Every great love has a beginning.
In Austen's Pride and Prejudice, we meet with perhaps the most sensible, caring relatives a lovelorn young woman could hope for: Mr and Mrs Gardiner. What is their story?
Edward Gardiner has just been refused by the lovely young woman he had intended to make his wife. Heartbroken and eager for a diversion, he accepts an invitation from his b Every great love has a beginning.
Edward Gardiner has just been refused by the lovely young woman he had intended to make his wife. Heartbroken and eager for a diversion, he accepts an invitation from his brother-in-law, Thomas Bennet, to accompany him along with his two eldest daughters to the north on family business. Gardiner's pleasure tour is interrupted, however, when his eldest niece falls ill and is unable to travel farther.
Stopping over in the scarcely remarkable village of Lambton, the men decide that Bennet must continue on, while Gardiner and the children remain. The only trouble is that Gardiner has not the least idea how he should care for one ailing niece and another who is ready to drive him to distraction… until he meets with Madeline Fairbanks. ...more
Published October 21st 2016 by Nicole Clarkston
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Jane Austen Variations Published in 2016
Jane Austen Spinoffs
94 books — 16 voters
· 158 ratings · 39 reviews
Oct 03, 2016 Mary rated it it was amazing
Shelves: 2016-books, read-2017
What a fantastic job Stevie Zimmerman does! She has a very distinctive voice and a keen talent when it comes to portraying the depth of emotions felt by the various characters in a range of different situations.
From the sad and despondent Edward,to the sardonic and wry humour of Mr Bennet, to the whimsical fancies of seven year old Lizzy
and the ladylike persona of Madeline,we are privy to their wishes and wants and happily present to see the fulfilment of their hearts' desires!!
I Dear reader,
I loved this book when I read it in 2016 and having experienced it on audio,I unreservedly recommend it to all lovers of JAFF!
We are all privy to the love story that is Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy,the oft times troubled path they tread to finally come to a proper understanding and ultimately find love and acceptance in the arms of the other.
We are also keenly aware of the great part that the Gardiners played in reconciling this couple and the appreciation shown to them,as is their due.
But what of the Gardiners' relationship itself? How did this homely,content,happy couple meet and what part,if any,did the Bennets play in uniting them??
This delightful,humorous and beautifully worded story aims to shed light on this most admirable couple's courtship.
Our story begins with Miss Mae Rutherford's refusal of Mr Edward Gardiner's hand in marriage. Her father has recently entered into a partnership with the father of an admirer of hers,a Mr Ryan,and therefore thinks it prudent that she bind herself to him in marriage.
Edward is left heartbroken and questions if he will ever meet a lady,an equal partner in his journey through the various trials and tribulations that life has a habit of immersing him in.
Invited to accompany Lizzy,Jane and Mr B to visit Mr Thaddeus Bennet,Mr B's ailing brother,he and his Bennet relations are soon Sheffield bound.
However,forced to deviate from their plans, due to Jane's listlessness and high fever,Mr B journeys on alone,leaving Edward in charge of his nieces.
Staying in Lambton,he seeks the assistance of a lady to care for said children.....
Enter stage left,one Madeline Fairbanks,an independent,amiable lady,currently assisting her father with his bookkeeping tasks,who willingly agrees to render assistance in a time of need!!
And herein lies the delicious courtship dance,one as old as time,as we are privy to the delicious indecisiveness and uncertainty
of both partners,as they eye up the other in
terms of suitability of temperance, compatibility as a life partner,and amiability in general outlook on life,and personal disposition!
To see what a bumbling but utterly endearing man Edward was in the presence of Madeline was so touching to read,not to mind the blushes and soft accidental touches shared by these two utterly compatible and humble people almost brought a tear to my eye.
To realise too that their union was made possible by Mr B added a touch of irony, especially when one remembers that they were responsible for the Darcys' marriage,in turn!!
Running parallel with the courtship of Madeline and Edward,we are also introduced to some other familiar characters that bear an uncanny resemblance in terms of pride and honour to their adult personas.
While Jane lies abed,Lizzy,the seven year old,intelligent, quick witted,utterly adorable and very active child,that will invariably grow into the country minx that Darcy will so willingly lose his heart to,befriends not only Madeline,but two bedraggled strangers sheltering from a particularly heavy and potentially dangerous storm.
Taking an instant dislike to the impertinent manners and overall lack of respect shown to him by Lizzy,this fourteen year old boy nevertheless grudgingly,if gratefully, appreciates and accepts the efforts she goes to,to comfort his darling three year old sister,yes,you've guessed it,Georgiana!!
Needless to say,his estimation of her innate intelligence and quickness of mind only serve to increase,the more time he spends conversing with her.....
We also become acquainted with both Bingley and Wickham, and alas see the children that became the men we are familiar with.
This,dear reader,was a very clever story and I simply loved being witness to how all the characters met,befriended and inevitably partnered with each other.
It was so interesting to see the seeds being sown,how each character's personality traits were developed,especially as we are privy to their adult selves and know their resultant behaviours.
This was a beautifully worded, tender, emotional and very compelling story. I was hooked on the very first page and immediately felt enveloped in a warm comfy blanket of assurance that promised love, laughter but most important of all a fantastic story couched in carefully chosen words that gave credence to the fact that this was a labour of love.
I highly recommend this P&P prequel and trust you will love and savour it as I did. ...more
Oct 09, 2016 J. W. Garrett rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: 2016, arc, jaff-pride-and-prejudice, read-again, era-regency-1811-1820, free, stored-nook, 2019
A simple trip to the north and Uncle Gardiner meets his future
This book was just so delightful and that cover was an excellent choice. I could not believe someone was able to create a story around the courtship of Uncle and Aunt Gardiner. We have loved this couple for years as they first appeared in P&P and in all the JAFF stories, sequels, prequels, variations and the numerous movie adaptations. Their wisdom and insight guided our dear girls through their formative years and helped them to A simple trip to the north and Uncle Gardiner meets his future
This book was just so delightful and that cover was an excellent choice. I could not believe someone was able to create a story around the courtship of Uncle and Aunt Gardiner. We have loved this couple for years as they first appeared in P&P and in all the JAFF stories, sequels, prequels, variations and the numerous movie adaptations. Their wisdom and insight guided our dear girls through their formative years and helped them to grow up and become the delightful ladies we know and love.
When we read of the Gardiners, there are many questions like the following: How did they meet? How did they become this power couple? What circumstances brought their paths together? Who is Madeline Fairbanks? And most importantly, what made her the perfect companion and help-meet for Edward Gardiner?
Nicole Clarkston, like an artist at her loom, has woven a beautiful cloth depicting the early foundation for the P&P story. Even if no one had ever read Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' [gasp], they can still enjoy this delightful story. For those few that have only read P&P once or twice, they may yet be able to pick up on the subtle nuances that thread their way through the design. However, for those of us immersed in JAFF, Clarkston's work will explode in brilliant colors, designs, and textures, thus revealing the timeless picture.
To those readers accustomed to high tension, nerve wracking drama, numbing angst, sensual scenes and gratuitous sex, this will disappoint. As stated before, this is a simple story and we are looking at the everyday life of a woman in Lambton Village and the people that are most important to her. We come to understand the influences that formed her character and made her perfect for Mr. Gardiner. It was the reason they returned years later on their travels with an older Elizabeth in tow.
This work is rife with hidden treasures as we read this gentle story. On the surface it is simply a love story of a man, recovering from a great disappointment, finding his true and abiding love. But below the surface, our author has woven together threads that brought together many of our beloved P&P characters many years before that Meryton Assembly in Hertfordshire. Their stories run parallel to the Gardiner story.
It was such fun seeing our favorite characters as children:
14-year-old Fitzwilliam going head to head with a 7-year-old Lizzy over a chess board.
Lizzy comforting a 3-year-old Georgiana terrified by a monstrous storm.
8-year-old Jane's reaction when she first cast her eyes on a very young Charles Bingley.
Charles Bingley's reaction when he first cast his eyes on an 8-year-old Jane.
Lizzy's first encounter with an angry Lady Catherine. That was a hoot.
Wickham being a pest and schemer, already ingratiating himself with Georgiana. It made my skin crawl.
We are privy to a young Fitzwilliam, still learning the dynamics of Pemberley, as he interacts with his father. The first meeting of the elder Mr. Bingley, along with a young Bingley, forged that friendship that brought them both to Meryton years later. It was amazing to see how that meeting between the fathers laid the groundwork for a friendship between their sons. It also explained why they were at school together. It's like Clarkston made a list of all the "why" questions in P&P and wove them into this delightful story so she could provide a reasonable answer. Brilliant.
It bothered me when Mr. Darcy discussed Wickham with Fitzwilliam. But, there was wisdom in his words. It softened the grievance I've had with the elder Mr. Darcy as he seemed to coddle Wickham. Not by much… mind you, but some. Let's just say I have a better understanding of the man and his reasoning.
There are so many instances of foreshadowing that you have to read carefully to not miss them. I kept finding myself going…oooh, I know what that action will do in a few years… OMG!!! They were dispersed throughout the story and are used to lay the groundwork of character, and understanding. It also explained why things were the way they were and we were able to see characters in a new light.
Edward Gardiner observed his brother-in-law Bennet and made a wise and prophetic assumption regarding 'his careless disregard for the keeping of his daughters'… He felt it would lead to trouble in the future if it was not checked. Unfortunately, Mr. Gardiner would regret seeing that prophecy come true.
This story was a journey and a journey takes time and I appreciated the fact that our author did not rush the budding relationship between our couple. So many authors do that to the detriment of the story and it leaves the reader with a rushed feeling.
As Clarkston continued to weave the threads of her thoughts into the design she wanted, she skillfully introduced new characters that seemed innocent at first but played an important part later in the story. It made me laugh when these characters kept popping up with comedic relief. It was those OMG moments where you just shake your head at the creativity.
It was funny to see how everything was woven into the P&P story as we know it. I had to laugh as our author brought everything back around to a complete finish with an epilogue that was most excellent.
One scene that touched me to the core was a picnic where our group found old initials 'GD' and 'AF' carved in the tree. They discussed and commented on the long ago lovers and hoped the couple had a happy life. It nearly made me cry; I couldn't help it. There were many moments like that, tender, touching and griping. We, who know the future, could see the subtle threads as they created the story way before the Meryton Assembly. Knowing what we know, knowing what was going to happen in the future… it was a strange and powerful feeling to be in that place and time. P&P questions I've entertained over the years seemed answered in some way. It was a settling feeling as things fell into place. It was delightful and made an excellent book for a cozy, snuggle down read on a relaxing evening.
For those who do not know GD and AF, or have forgotten, see below:
*****SPOILER**** GD and AF were George Darcy and Anne Fitzwilliam **** End Spoiler ****
Note: Although I received an ARC [advanced reader copy] from the author, I have since purchased a copy on two different reading devices. I loved this book and this author's work. This is an honest review and the opinions expressed are my own.
1st read 10-8-16 ~ 10-9-16
2nd read 6-7-19 ~ 6-26-19 ...more
Oct 07, 2016 Sheila Majczan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
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
Oct 22, 2016 Claudine DiMuzio / Just Jane 1813 rated it it was amazing
Shelves: just-jane-1813-canon-character-s-st, just-jane-1813-prequels
Nicole Clarkston stops by Just Jane 1813 with audiobook giveaways and a wonderful post related to our beloved characters. Thank you, Nicole. Your post had me laughing all the way!!
http://justjane1813.com/2017/01/23/we...
Ms. Clarkston's introspective story reimagines the early lives of our favorite supporting characters from Austen's Pride and Prejudice. (4.5 stars)
Source: I received an eARC of this story from the author for a fair and honest review.
"With the Gardiners, they were always on the m Nicole Clarkston stops by Just Jane 1813 with audiobook giveaways and a wonderful post related to our beloved characters. Thank you, Nicole. Your post had me laughing all the way!!
"With the Gardiners, they were always on the most intimate terms. Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them; and they were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them." Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Oftentimes, writers incorporate Austen's infamous opening line of "Pride and Prejudice" into their stories, which correlates with the intentions and tone of their own writing. In Nicole Clarkston's latest novel, "The Courtship of Edward Gardiner," her new JAFF story centers around the last, and often, overlooked sentences in "Pride and Prejudice," which describes Elizabeth's and Darcy's feelings and subsequent relationship with the Gardiners.
Austen scholar, Patricia Meyer Spacks, in her interview with Five Books, noted the importance of Austen's parting sentence, where she asserts,
"But the last sentence of Pride and Prejudice is about the various people who come to visit at Pemberley, and how they are welcomed. It implies a view of marriage as the centre of a community, of marriage being a community and making a larger community.
It's a much larger and more romantic but also, in my view, a more moral view of marriage. It's a view of marriage as a centre expanding outwards that is totally absent at the beginning of the book. It doesn't recur in any of the other novels."
With Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner's courtship as the focus of her story, Mrs. Clarkston develops what this "community" of people may have looked like several years earlier in their lives in this prequel to "Pride and Prejudice," while also demonstrating how the Gardiners' courtship may have played a role in developing Jane's and Elizabeth's earliest ideas about love, kindness, and companionship.
This story begins in the year 1800, where, a few months after Mr. Gardiner is rejected by the woman he wishes to marry, he sets off on a journey with Mr. Bennet, Jane Bennet, and Elizabeth Bennet, to help Mr. Bennet attend to the needs of his deceased brother's affairs. Along the journey, Mrs. Clarkston pulls a page from Austen's book, and young Jane falls ill and requires an extended stay to help her recover. After some arrangements are made, Mr. Bennet and Edward decide to have him stay with the girls at the Lions Head Inn in Lambton, and Mr. Bennet resumes his travels to Sheffield.
Since it's not completely proper for Edward to nurse his niece on his own, they decide to seek out a local woman to help the family with Jane. Enter here, a young Miss Fairbanks; a well-known lady in the town of Lambton, who, after receiving her father's permission, takes her place at the Lions Head Inn and works to help restore Jane Bennet to her former good health.
Eventually, Miss Fairbanks notices that her younger sister, Elizabeth, an energetic and inquisitive girl, benefits from the guidance of a well-mannered lady to serve as her informal mentor. Being an astute girl, Elizabeth seeks to emulate some of Miss Fairbank's manners, which adds not only some humor to the story, but also a bit of foreshadowing. Soon, it's not only Elizabeth who takes notice of Miss Fairbanks, but also her uncle who comes to feel an attraction and regard for this new acquaintance.
When an unforeseen hail storm strikes the local community, the residents at Pemberley become affected by this shift in the weather, which throws Elizabeth into the path of a rather wealthy and haughty young man. The events of the story unfold in a way that ties together several of our "favorite" characters from "Pride and Prejudice" and allows us to view them as their younger selves. The courtship of Edward Gardiner and Madeline Fairbanks plays a central role in this story, yet the supporting storylines are just as engaging for lovers of "Pride and Prejudice."
Mrs. Clarkston tells her story in a little over thirty chapters, with an epilogue at the end that serves to bring her own story within the folds of Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." As in her other books that I have reviewed, "Northern Rain," and "Rumours and Recklessness," her writing style is tight, and her characters are well-developed. She takes the time to include pieces from our characters' lives and personalities that allow us to explore various possibilities for them in "Pride and Prejudice," while at the same time writing her own charming alternate character story. I must give her credit for writing this singular story about Aunt and Uncle Gardiner's courtship, especially since it's clear from Austen's story that they both played a rather significant role in Jane and Elizabeth's lives. ...more
Oct 09, 2016 Debbie Brown rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: 2016-jaff, jaff
I simply devoured this book. Loved the premise, loved the characters, loved the plot, loved the high quality of the writing, and loved the way Ms. Clarkston makes everything perfectly fit together. Any devotee of Pride and Prejudice will appreciate all the incidental winks and nods to the masterpiece that inspired this story.
The consistency of the characters with Jane Austen's is particularly impressive. Thomas Bennet, 12 years before the events of Pride and Prejudice take place, already demonst I simply devoured this book. Loved the premise, loved the characters, loved the plot, loved the high quality of the writing, and loved the way Ms. Clarkston makes everything perfectly fit together. Any devotee of Pride and Prejudice will appreciate all the incidental winks and nods to the masterpiece that inspired this story.
The consistency of the characters with Jane Austen's is particularly impressive. Thomas Bennet, 12 years before the events of Pride and Prejudice take place, already demonstrates indolence when it comes to childraising. Lizzy is a challenging 7-year-old, to be sure, full of unbridled energy and curiosity, but the early pages of the book make it evident that her father's primary concern is already his own comfort. He arranges for his brother-in-law to join him and his two oldest daughters, supposedly as a distraction for Edward, whose heart is broken after his recent marriage proposal was refused. In actuality, Thomas wants someone to keep his little girls occupied so he can read undisturbed during the journey north to visit his ailing younger brother (the grandfather of P&P's Mr. Collins). Edward gets disgusted with Thomas' lack of concern when Jane begins to show signs of illness, and so does the reader. Eventually, even the lackadaisical Thomas can see that Jane cannot continue, and he and Edward agree that the girls will stay at the Lions Head Inn in Lambton with their uncle while Thomas continues on to Sheffield.
This is where Madeline Fairbanks comes in. The girls cannot stay alone with their uncle without a female nurse or companion, and Mrs. Porter, the kindly wife of the inn's proprietor, solicits Madeline's assistance for the family. Edward and Madeline quickly become smitten with each other. Interestingly, Lizzy recognizes that Madeline's deportment is worth emulating and starts to copy her behavior.
Although the romance between Madeline and Edward is at the heart of it, the story makes subtle shifts to include other well-known characters. When Edward takes a ride to explore the countryside, there's a lovely moment when he sees two sets of initials carved into a tree; its meaning is apparent to the reader, though not to Edward. We learn a few things about the Darcy family and Fitzwilliam's relationship with his father and younger sister as well as his already contentious relationship with young George Wickham. When the Darcy siblings are caught in a storm and end up at the inn, they encounter the precocious Lizzy, who quickly bonds with young Georgiana and verbally spars with her rude older brother. The Lions Head becomes lodging for the senior Mr. Bingley and his son, in town to do business with the senior Mr. Darcy, so we get to witness the first meeting between Charles and Fitzwilliam (and the first time Charles sees Jane)! Even Lady Catherine gets some play here and performs in characteristically unreasonable and high-handed fashion.
The writing just flows and sweeps the reader along with it. You can't help but melt a bit at the sweet interactions between the awkward Edward and amused Madeline. This lovely story provides echoes of the one that will follow but also features a charming romance of its own. Highly recommended!
I received an ARC from the author as a gift. ...more
Apr 18, 2017 Rita Deodato rated it it was amazing
Review initially published on:
https://frompemberleytomilton.wordpre...
The Courtship of Edward Gardiner by Nicole Clarkston was one of my 2016 favorite books, so you may imagine that I've been eager to review it and today I'm finally doing it!
In this Pride and Prejudice prequel, Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Bennet with little Jane and Lizzy are traveling north to visit Mr. Bennet's brother when Jane becomes sick. Because of that, they are forced to stop at a small town to allow Jane some time to recover, Review initially published on:
In this Pride and Prejudice prequel, Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Bennet with little Jane and Lizzy are traveling north to visit Mr. Bennet's brother when Jane becomes sick. Because of that, they are forced to stop at a small town to allow Jane some time to recover, and while her father continues his trip to visit his dying brother, her uncle Gardiner stays behind to look after his nieces. This small town is none other than Lambton, and it is here that Mr. Gardiner will meet Miss Madeline Fairbanks, who will help him take care of Jane during her illness.
Mr. Gardiner's relationship with Miss Fairbanks is an endearing and adorable one. He finds in her a mixture of the best attributes in Jane and Elizabeth, and discovers she is everything he could ever desire in a woman; she is caring, dedicated to her loved ones, gentil, but also smart, humble, and used to aid her father in his business, which shows him, she is the perfect partner in life for a tradesman.
Madeline Fairbanks' impression of this young man from London is not the best at first, but soon she discovers he is everything a man ought to be, and it doesn't take long for her to fall in love with him.
I loved seeing a younger version of Edward Gardiner. I am used to see him as a knowledgeable uncle and not as an insecure young man still trying to make is place in the world. I also liked seeing a younger version of aunt Gardiner who still blushes at some remarks made from a certain young man and finds herself accepting marriage advices from Mrs. Phillips and Mrs. Bennet!
But the Gardiners are not the only P&P characters in this book, by the contrary, and that was one of the aspects that surprised me the most. We will find small versions of Lizzy, Jane and Georgiana, teenagers Darcy, Bingley and Wickham along with their fathers, and even Lady Catherine and Anne make an appearance! Seeing younger versions of all these characters was absolutely amazing, it was a very different approach that could not have given me more joy while reading the book.
I also adored how Nicole Clarkston linked Pride & Prejudice's story with this prequel, it is as if all details are in place and everything was thought through to make us feel we are reading the same book. I could easily imagine this book as a prologue of Pride and Prejudice itself,
Not only all characters are pretty much the same in temper and personality, but we get to see how and why they became the adults Austen developed. It is interesting to see, for example, how Madeline Gardiner's influence had a great impact in Lizzy's behaviour, how Darcy's father's contributed to his sense of duty and honor and how Darcy and Bingley's friendship started.
But the character's personality and background is not the only connection between Pride and Prejudice and The Courtship of Edward Gardiner, if in P&P the Gardiners are essential to bring Elizabeth and Darcy together, in The Courtship of Edward Gardiner it is Lizzy who contributes to the happiness of the older couple.The reversal of their roles was just an example of Nicole Clarkston's ability to play with words and situations, and bring to life a story that is perfectly harmonised with Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
The Courtship of Edward Gardiner is a light, endearing and funny book that is the perfect company for an afternoon in the couch. You will laugh to see Jane compared to her mother, to see Mrs. Bennet called a sensible woman and Lady Catherine accused of being afraid of 8 year old highwayman.
Additionaly, Nicole Clarkston's writing is fluid, agreeable and enticing. She makes us feel among the characters, and we can clearly picture every scene and every dialogue in our head. I was not expecting to love this story because it is not a Darcy/Elizabeth romance, but the story is so good and so well written that it captured my heart and ended up being one of my favourite books from 2016.
The book ends with an epilogue that I loved as we see Mr. and Mrs. Darcy remembering everything that happened in Lambton during the courtship of Edward Gardiner.
Last year I read the book but this year I had the pleasure of hearing it's audiobook version and was impressed with Stevie Zimmerman's narration once again. I already had a very good opinion of her, but I was amazed with the wide variety of voices she can make in this book. She is able to replicate not only the voices of male and female characters without sounding fake, but also small children and teenagers. If there is any doubt she is a great narrator, The Courtship of Edward Gardiner is the best example to convince anyone otherwise. I highly recommend not only the ebook and print versions, but also the audiobook, which is the perfect company for your commutes.
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 s NOTE: I was given an ARC in exchange for a fair review.
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!
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
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 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 see young Master Darcy trying to cope with his mother's loss, be a good brother to Georgiana, put up with the mischief George Wickham causes, as well as with Lady Catherine's temper tantrums, and (the most heart-warming part of all, to me) see him interact with his stern father and earn his respect. We also get glimpses of young Jane and young Master Bingley, as well as hints to how his friendship with Fitzwilliam Darcy started – and all this on the backdrop of a lovely village lost in the Derbyshire hills, where a host of well-drawn and entertaining new characters show up to aid or hinder Mr Gardiner in his pursuit of happiness. A lovely story that put many smiles on my face and a delightful read in every way. ...more
Jan 18, 2017 Carole (in Canada) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Recommends it for: JAFF, Romance
Shelves: favorites, prequels
This was utterly delightful and I couldn't put it down! The writing just flowed and like a river it carried you along to a most satisfying end. For me, Ms. Clarkston has captured not only Edward Gardiner but the future Mrs. Gardiner, Madeline Fairbanks, exactly as I imagined them to be.
This prequel to Pride & Prejudice has Mr. Bennet, young Jane and Elizabeth traveling with their Uncle Gardiner north to visit Mr. Bennet's brother and heir who is ailing. The sparkle and energy of a young Eli This was utterly delightful and I couldn't put it down! The writing just flowed and like a river it carried you along to a most satisfying end. For me, Ms. Clarkston has captured not only Edward Gardiner but the future Mrs. Gardiner, Madeline Fairbanks, exactly as I imagined them to be.
This prequel to Pride & Prejudice has Mr. Bennet, young Jane and Elizabeth traveling with their Uncle Gardiner north to visit Mr. Bennet's brother and heir who is ailing. The sparkle and energy of a young Elizabeth and the calming sweetness of Jane helps to heal and divert Mr. Gardiner's thoughts from his failed proposal of marriage. With both examples of his adorable nieces, he comes to realize what he really wants in a wife. Little does he know it is sooner than he thinks!
Taking these beloved and some not so beloved characters, from Pride & Prejudice and giving them a past history just added a further layer of richness to my favourite novel. We get to see that Mr. Bennet is as he always was...an indifferent father. We get to experience the inquisitiveness and rambunctiousness of a young Elizabeth who adores her older sister. But best of all, we get to be part of this traveling group when they wind up in Lambton not far from Pemberley. ...more
Aug 17, 2017 Sara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
I was hesitant to read this book (now I don't know why). I suppose I figured without D and E, what could be interesting. I could not have been more wrong. Nicole one of my favorite authors (not only P&P but N&S). She has an ability to paint such amazing pictures that I am immediately transported and immediately invested in the characters and plot. BRAVO! I truly loved the scenes with young Fitzwilliam and young Elizabeth. The courtship of Edward and Madeline was also beautiful. I cannot I was hesitant to read this book (now I don't know why). I suppose I figured without D and E, what could be interesting. I could not have been more wrong. Nicole one of my favorite authors (not only P&P but N&S). She has an ability to paint such amazing pictures that I am immediately transported and immediately invested in the characters and plot. BRAVO! I truly loved the scenes with young Fitzwilliam and young Elizabeth. The courtship of Edward and Madeline was also beautiful. I cannot say more about this lovely book. If you are not sure, please just pick it up. You won't be disappointed. ...more
Oct 24, 2016 Teresa rated it really liked it
A very enjoyable sweet book. The love story between Edward and Madeline was so gentle. They are two of my favourite characters from P&P and the author kept them that way while giving us an insight into their earlier lives. Their relationship in P&P is a real love affair and it was lovely to see how that happened.
Meeting Lizzy, Jane, Georgiana and Darcy as younger children was a nice touch. However, I felt at times that they acted way older than the ages they were supposed to be. Young Da A very enjoyable sweet book. The love story between Edward and Madeline was so gentle. They are two of my favourite characters from P&P and the author kept them that way while giving us an insight into their earlier lives. Their relationship in P&P is a real love affair and it was lovely to see how that happened.
Meeting Lizzy, Jane, Georgiana and Darcy as younger children was a nice touch. However, I felt at times that they acted way older than the ages they were supposed to be. Young Darcy was an obnoxious snot so it was nice to see him changing over the book and his caring for his little sister was lovely. I also liked the relationship between Darcy and his father.
I didn't take to Mr. Bennet at all!! His smirking and slyness got on my nerves. Normally he is a character I love and enjoy but here he just annoyed me.
Overall this was a great read and I look forward to more of this author's books. ...more
Dec 05, 2016 Tlotem rated it it was amazing
Shelves: kindle-unlimited
Such a delightful story of the Gardiner's courtship! These two are the mother, father, sister, brother or friend you dream to have! And little Lizzy is exactly as we can imagine and gives us lots of laughs... and Fitzwilliam Darcy... the same aloof boy unable to resist to the mischievous Lizzy...
Don't wait to read it, I'm sure you will enjoy it, fans of Jane Austen
Nov 23, 2016 Suzan Lauder rated it it was amazing
Shelves: jaff-regency, no-sex-no-violence, loved-it, regency-romance
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Quote: "He gasped a little, delirious with relief that his beautiful Madeline was as brave and held such faith as he dared to hope. Were he not a grown man, he might have shed a tear or two, such was the depth of his heart's contentment- and if he blinked a little more than was his wont for a few moments, he could easily be excused."
Oct 25, 2016 Madenna U rated it it was amazing
Shelves: type-darcy, rate-loved-it, where-unlimited
I really enjoyed this glimpse into how the Gardiner's met. It also has a fun introduction to all the principle characters in Pride and Prejudice. The story was light and flowed very nicely. I must confess that Lizzy is my favorite character.
Nov 07, 2016 Nicole Barton Sasser rated it really liked it
Shelves: 2016-austenesque-lovers-challenge, p-and-p, physical-library, jaff, review-on-amazon, signed-by-author, arc, gift-from-author, for-review, kindle-doc
Status: Read from October 06 to 12, 2016
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 surprise Status: Read from October 06 to 12, 2016
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. I assumed that I would not see or hear about my other favourite original characters, but they were there… as children! How fun.
If you have not read this author, please do. She also writes variations of my other great love, Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South. Bonus points for also having the BEST first name in the world :)
*** Received an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review ***
My Library Notes:
by Nicole Clarkston
Paperback, First Edition, 182 pages
ISBN: 1537706284 (ISBN13: 978-1537706283)
*signed by author*
Stopping over in the scarcely remarkable village of Lambton, the men decide that Bennet must continue on, while Gardiner and the children remain. The only trouble is that Gardiner has not the least idea how he should care for one ailing niece and another who is ready to drive him to distraction… until he meets with Madeline Fairbanks.
PDF, Advance Reader Copy, 176 pages
Published September 2016 by Nicole Clarkston
Jan 29, 2017 Abigail Bok rated it really liked it
Shelves: austenesque-novels
I'm giving this one four stars for charm. Like the Austenesque novels of KaraLynne Mackrory, The Courtship of Edward Gardiner has characters you just want to squeeze and chuck under the chin. That's of course both a strength and a weakness—the reader enjoys keeping company with them, but there's nary an antagonist in the bunch (view spoiler)[(unless you count Mr. Lawrence, who spends too much time flat on his face to be much of a threat to our heroine) (hide spoiler)].
The story focuses shrewdly— I'm giving this one four stars for charm. Like the Austenesque novels of KaraLynne Mackrory, The Courtship of Edward Gardiner has characters you just want to squeeze and chuck under the chin. That's of course both a strength and a weakness—the reader enjoys keeping company with them, but there's nary an antagonist in the bunch (view spoiler)[(unless you count Mr. Lawrence, who spends too much time flat on his face to be much of a threat to our heroine) (hide spoiler)].
The story focuses shrewdly—because who didn't want to know?—on how Elizabeth Bennet's aunt and uncle Gardiner came to be a couple. After Edward Gardiner's first romantic suit (great opening scene) doesn't prosper, Mr. Bennet has dragged his brother-in-law off on an expedition to northern England, intended as a visit to Bennet's ailing younger brother. Benighted in Lambton by the timely illness of a nine-year-old Jane Bennet, Mr. Gardiner and eight-year-old Elizabeth are thrown into intimacy with a local young woman, the daughter of a bookkeeper. As with most contemporary romance stories, attraction is immediate, and with two such nice (in the modern sense) protagonists, little occurs to disturb the progress of romance.
Sadly, I must continue to rail, as I do ad nauseam on this site, against the prevalence of modern language and modern sensibilities in period romance. In this case I have to deplore the use of unnecessary intensifiers in place of the serviceable "he said," "she asked," and the few other invisible signposts that readers can absorb without registering them consciously. "She intoned," "he quieted her," "he husked" (is that even a thing?), and their ilk are phrasings that simply distract the reader, and they are markers of the amateur writer. In a book as delightful as this one, it was a pity to find so many. Trust that your dialogue and action speak for themselves! I also had difficulty envisioning Mr. Bennet as a mischievous matchmaker, though in other regards his character was fairly entertaining. And Clarkston occasionally falls into the trap of over-intensifying the traits of original characters—Mrs. Bennet is one who is taken to extremes here.
The fact that most of the action takes place at Lambton should serve to alert the reader that many of the characters in Pride and Prejudice make an appearance in these pages. Sometimes the symmetries and coincidences got to be a bit much, but I was along for a pleasurable ride and so I went with it. Some of the crossing of social lines seemed a bit anachronistic, but in general Clarkston's grasp of village society and working people's lives seemed believable. And the basis she offers for the friendship of Darcy and Bingley is the most plausible I have seen.
I liked that the focus of the romance was on finding a good life partner, not on heaving bosoms and tightenings of the groin. And the children were all charming, leavening the tale and offering insights into their adult selves without overwhelming the story. This was a delightful read. ...more
Apr 23, 2017 Appalaa rated it really liked it
Read entire review at at https://perioddramamadness.wordpress....
Nicole's carefully preserves and builds upon the canonical personality traits of our beloved characters. Even as a child, Elizabeth displays an easy and playful nature, and her interaction with a teenage Fritzwilliam Darcy is familiar of their dynamic in Pride and Prejudice. The young Darcy has many POV chapters, and is represented sympathetically, as a sensitive young man, a doting brother, and dutiful son. In many ways, this book Read entire review at at https://perioddramamadness.wordpress....
Nicole's carefully preserves and builds upon the canonical personality traits of our beloved characters. Even as a child, Elizabeth displays an easy and playful nature, and her interaction with a teenage Fritzwilliam Darcy is familiar of their dynamic in Pride and Prejudice. The young Darcy has many POV chapters, and is represented sympathetically, as a sensitive young man, a doting brother, and dutiful son. In many ways, this book is as much about young Darcy, as it is about the courtship of Edward Gardener.
Nicole excels at recreating the linguistic style and phrasing of our beloved Jane Austen and her characters. I would think, writing dialogue for the ever sarcastic Mr. Bennet is one of the hardest aspects of writing a Pride and Prejudice fan fic, but Nicole's Mr. Bennet is as good as the original. (That is high compliment, I assure you!) I'm especially fond of the exchange between Mr. Bennet and Lady Catherine.
Another passage from the book that stands out, is the first meeting between little Lizzy and Darcy. Nicole manages to encapsulate the Lizzy-Darcy dynamic within the span of one game of chess. I am tempted to share that passage, but you'll just have to read the book for that treat. ;)
The plotting in the book is so good, I was tempted to give it a 5, but I had to deduct 1 star for lack of angst. There isn't much hand-wringing and misunderstanding and pining. Edward Gardener is less Darcy and Rochester; more awkward-yet-lovable boy-next-door. But it was refreshing to find a male protagonist in a romance book who isn't a rogue for once. If anything, Edward Gardener will remind you more of your real-life husband than a romance-cover leading man. There's some merit in that.
I listened to the audiobook, and I have to end with a word about Stevie Zimmerman'd narrative style. She effortlessly switches her voice from child to teenage boy to commanding dowager. She did an excellent job in bringing the characters to life. ...more
Oct 22, 2016 Nisi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
What a Wonderful Story!
I always loved the Gardiners and was happy to read a story of their courtship since so very little of this side of Pride and Prejudice is explored. It was a bonus for me to see ODC meeting as children and Elizabeth's early influence on young Darcy. The author did an excellent job of recreating the mischievous hoyden I always pictured Elizabeth to be, as well as, giving us snippets of the personalities we would later see in canon. Truly a lovely story.
Mar 10, 2017 wosedwew rated it it was amazing
Shelves: owned-books, book-reviews
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 though love be a day and life be nothing, it shall not stop kissing. ~e.e. cummings
A very sweet story which I recommend to all JAFF addicts. ...more
Dec 23, 2016 Dung rated it it was amazing
Shelves: austen-inspried, books-owned-kindle-ibook, favorite-austen-inspired
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.
Apr 11, 2017 Susan rated it really liked it
Edward Gardiner having just had his offer of marriage refused accompanies Mr. Bennet and his two oldest daughters on a journey northwards to visit the younger brother of Bennet. Finally reaching the small town of Lambton. Can Gardiner's heart be healed.
Thoroughly enjoyed this story, lovely writing style and enjoyed meeting the young Darcys and Bingleys.
Mar 15, 2017 Teresita rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
A very believable and sweet story about my favorite secondary characters in P&P.
Ms. Clarkston did an amazing job of describing personalities as well as the surrounding area.
Oct 22, 2016 Leslie rated it liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: ku, austenesque
This book should have been titled "Austen Babies" where nanny is played by the future Madeline Gardiner [see: Muppet babies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muppet_... ]
This book starts out maturely enough with a unmarried Edward Gardiner begging a young lady to accept his suit. Alas she is already engaged to another merchant of more prosperous means and so she cruelly rejects him.
He is moping when his brother-in-law Bennet arrives in town with his two eldest daughters in tow. Bennet's brother is a This book should have been titled "Austen Babies" where nanny is played by the future Madeline Gardiner [see: Muppet babies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muppet_... ]
He is moping when his brother-in-law Bennet arrives in town with his two eldest daughters in tow. Bennet's brother is ailing and he must visit him in the north and he decided the best company he could have is Mr. Gardiner. Mr. Bennet is pretty much an asinine caricature of Austen's Bennet. He drops jokes and one liners like a manic Robin Williams; he further proves himself to be a neglectful and lax parent. He has come with his two eldest daughters Jane, 8 and Lizzy, 7. Lizzy needs Ritalin and Jane is all that is sweet, good, charming and beautiful.
In other words, welcome to trope land... In the course of their trip Jane falls ill and they are forced to remain for several day in Lambton, where Miss. Fairbanks is convinced to lend a hand and help out with the sick girls - because it would be inappropriate for their Uncle to care for them. (really? WOW)
And this would be fine, contrived but fine, had Mr. Gardiner & Miss Fairbanks fallen on love over Jane's sick bed. But no the author had to bring almost every P&P character into the story (younger) and beat the reader about the head and neck with it. First we meet Fitzwilliam Darcy who is studying when interrupted by his 3 year old sister Georgiana. Then he is reprimanded by his father for his cross words with George Wickham [who is showing signs of being a serial killer]. Meanwhile back in Lambton Lizzy is causing chaos and speaking in full adult sentences and beating her uncle at chess. While Jane is being beautifully ill. Then of course Lizzy & Darcy have to meet and she is precocious and annoying and he is quiet and prideful. They also encounter George Wickham who is just totally creepy. And 7 year old Lizzy reads adult novels.
A day or so later who should arrive at the Inn in Lambton, why Charles Bingley of course just in time for Jane to have recovered and see him in the dining room. [True story: as soon as I realized that was where the author was going I gasped aloud "FFS"] Soon he will be off to Pemberley to have shockingly prescient conversations. But peace shall not fall upon the land of Pemberley but who should appear in the drive but Lady Catherine de Bourgh... who will have her share of this foreshadowing...
I really found this whole story tedious. The parts with Mr & the future Mrs. Gardiner were pleasant enough as were the scenes with him sheltering with the shepherds but every scene with stereotype kids who speak like adults made me twitchy.
I was also annoyed by the way both Mr. Gardiner & Mr. Bennet reacted when Miss Fairbanks made a comment to the effect that the girls mother must be charming and ladylike. While Lizzy's behavior isn't the best Jane is all that is good, sweet and wonderful. She obviously didn't learn it from her indifferent father.
Oct 30, 2016 ana darcy rated it it was amazing
Shelves: jaff
I was very interested on reading the courtship of Mr. Gardiner, the lovely uncle of the Bennet sisters and the one who, together with his wife, brought Darcy and Elizabeth together.
As usual I am going to avoid any spoilers for two reasons: 1) I do not want people spoiling books or films to me and 2) it will leave you with the need to read such an awesome book!
You may have gather already that I have immensely enjoyed this book and not only because it is related to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Aust I was very interested on reading the courtship of Mr. Gardiner, the lovely uncle of the Bennet sisters and the one who, together with his wife, brought Darcy and Elizabeth together.
You may have gather already that I have immensely enjoyed this book and not only because it is related to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I believe Mr. Gardiner and Mrs. Gardiner are two of the forgotten characters when it comes to JAFF but I can understand that other characters give more chance to write about.
Let's start: Mr. Bennet has to go north to see his brother as he is quite ill and some things need to be done. He takes his two oldest daughters, Jane and Lizzy, two lovely little girls but with already the behaviour and personality that later on is told in Pride and Prejucide. Mr. Bennet's brother-in-law, Mr. Gardiner travels with them in an attempt to forget his broken heart after being refused when he proposed to the lady that he thought was in love with.
The trip is thwarted because Jane gets ill and after the insistence of Mr. Gardiner, the girls and their uncle are going to remain in the nearest town to take care of the eldest Bennet sister. This town is a small but apparently lovely town of Lambton. However, even being their uncle, Mr. Gardiner, once Mr. Bennet continues the trip, needs a woman to take care of the little girls. Thanks to the owner of the inn where they are staying, they found a Miss Madeline Fairbanks, a young woman whose father is not a gentleman but who has taught his daughter to behave as a lady. She lives in the town and she accepts to help nursing Jane and taking care of Lizzy.
Here is where we have our two main characters for the first time. They will share a lot of nice moments, they will know each other better. He is a man in trade but close to a gentleman due to his education and savoir-faire. She, an only daughter whose brother is in London working, helps her father with the accounts and takes care of him who is suffering as he cannot read properly anymore. I will not tell you much more about them as it is very endearing and I think I cannot make it justice.
By the way, what do you think it may happen when one of the worst storms breaks in Derbyshire? What about having mainly one know-it-all little girl is actually helping two adults inderectly? What happens when a sensible woman meets Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Phillips?
Apart from the adorable love story, I have really enjoyed reading about Lizzy and Jane when they were little. Moreover, as we are in Lambton, only five miles from Pemberley, Nicole Clarkston also shows us how Master Fitzwilliam, Miss Darcy and George Wickham were when little. It was very interesting to read how Fitzwilliam had to deal with George and how he learnt his principles , the same ones that would cost him quite dear on his first proposal years after to Elizabeth Bennet. ...more
Dec 11, 2016 pamela k cronister rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
It was so nice to read the Gardiner's back story. They have always been a particular favorite of mine. So I truly enjoyed this novel and the way it brought in the future players.
Nov 06, 2016 Luann Martin rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Four Stars
Nicole Clarkston has written a charming story to make us better acquainted with Elizabeth's delightful aunt and uncle, the Gardiner's. She has also given us a look at a young Elizabeth that makes us love her more than ever. I'm so happy that I found this book. It was a delightful Sunday afternoon read.
Nov 07, 2016 Miriam rated it liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: fiction, kindle-unlimited, austen-fanfics
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This was a cute story, and I liked the way the author worked in many of the characters and created a backstory for Darcy and Bingley's friendship. I did think there were a few too many plot threads that got started and didn't go anywhere, but it was a pleasant enough story.
Dec 19, 2016 Margie's Must Reads rated it it was amazing
Nicole Clarkston takes a much admired couple from my favorite story ever and breathes new life and captures the essence of true love in this engaging prequel. Pride and Prejudice fans do not want to miss this one!
Oct 31, 2016 Allison rated it really liked it
This story is very sweet, well written and quite cleverly done. It not only tells the Gardiners' story, but deftly weaves in tales of Elizabeth and Darcy's childhoods as well. Worth a read.
About Nicole Clarkston
Nicole Clarkston
Nicole Clarkston is a book lover and a happily married mom of three. Originally from Idaho, she now lives in Oregon with her own romantic hero, several horses, and one very fat dog. She has loved crafting alternate stories and sequels since she was a child watching Disney's Robin Hood, and she is never found sitting quietly without a book of some sort.
Nicole discovered Jane Austen rather by guilt Nicole Clarkston is a book lover and a happily married mom of three. Originally from Idaho, she now lives in Oregon with her own romantic hero, several horses, and one very fat dog. She has loved crafting alternate stories and sequels since she was a child watching Disney's Robin Hood, and she is never found sitting quietly without a book of some sort.
Nicole discovered Jane Austen rather by guilt in her early thirties―how does any book worm really live that long without a little P&P? She has never looked back. A year or so later, during a major house renovation project, she discovered Elizabeth Gaskell and fell completely in love. Her need for more time with these characters led her to simultaneously write Rumours & Recklessness, a P&P inspired novel, and No Such Thing as Luck, an N&S inspired novel. Both immediately became bestselling books. The success she had with her first attempt at writing led her to write three other novels that are her pitiful homage to two authors who have so deeply inspired her.
Nicole was recently invited to join Austenvariations.com, a group of talented authors in the Jane Austen Fiction genre. In addition to her work with the Austen Variations blog, Nicole can be reached through Facebook at http://fb.me/NicoleClarkstonAuthor, Twitter @N_Clarkston, her blog at Goodreads.com, or her personal blog and website, NicoleClarkson.com.
Books by Nicole Clarkston
Trivia About The Courtship of ...


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text:
"Curtain Calls" Zorro in Hell
Select Our ratings Out Of 5
Trashy White Guys and hip black chicks,
Hemingway's Rose and Trolley's last kicks.
And also, don't say I didn't warn ya':
Zorro's back in California .
THE SHOW: Culture Clash's Zorro in Hell, the Chicano crazies' latest nutty/political creation (an actual play, with a plot!), part of a trilogy about The Golden State. This is a world premiere, co-produced and -commissioned by Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the La Jolla Playhouse
THE STORY/THE BACKSTORY: If there's a cultural or local reference Culture Clash omitted, I can't think of it. They threw in everything from Chula Vista to Costco, Tupac to FEMA, NPR to Southwestern College , dramaturges to lesbian drum circles, Noam Chomsky to Pottery Barn, Trader Joe to Injun Joe, Bush, Cheney, Nietzsche, Hummers and the Gubanador. The latter is pretty much the enemy, as an unsuccessful writer (Richard Montoya) struggles to find his muse and his cultural identity through the myth and legend of Zorro. In the meantime, he not only becomes Zorro (the show's political/inspirational message is "Somos todos Zorro," we are all Zorro), but at the end, he encourages all of us to "Rise Up!" ( 'Spartacus' -like) and defend the underdog – not to mention Rising Up "for properly executed agit-prop theater." And it is, indeed. Very much in the spirit of Luis Valdez' El Teatro Campesino and the San Francisco Mime Troupe (the lone female addition, the talented Sharon Lockwood, is a veteran of that acclaimed group), the show is also admittedly inspired by August Wilson , "Dante's Inferno," and the films " Alice in Wonderland," "Jacob's Ladder" and "Being John Malkovich." It's by turns wild and crazy, fanciful and imaginative, smutty and sex-obsessed, hilarious and ridiculous, supremely silly, base and over-the-top, inspiring and politically motivating. There's a serious undertone, too: about the State of the Union , about "who's a hero and who's a terrorist." About who's a Californian. And the need we all have for a mythic hero.
The original Zorro, created in 1919 by pulp fiction writer Johnston McCulley, was inspired by "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and in turn inspired Batman and other dual-identity fighters of injustice (Superman, et al.). There's gotta be something in this show for everyone… though it might not all be to anyone's taste. (The Clash even takes potshots at Republican Rancho Santa Fe residents, which didn't go down all that easily on opening night).
THE PRODUCTION: You've gotta just go with the insanity when it comes to Culture Clash. They're so wacky and off-the-wall and their comedy is fueled as much by adolescent potty humor as political injustice. Director Tony Taccone (artistic director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre) keeps things moving at neck-snapping speed, though there are at least five endings (and the piece could be trimmed elsewhere as well). With its homage to film and TV, there are, of course, video projections. And swordplay. And anal sex with a bear ( California forever screwing Latinos, I assume). The Potiker Theater is re-configured in the most conventional arrangement thus far: a straight proscenium stage and nicely raked seats. The scenic design (Christopher Acebo) features an inventive, malleable rotating set (which changes from hotel lobby to bedroom, past to present), with projections of the "Zorro" TV show and filmic adaptations, as well as the Douglas Fairbanks original and other nutty stuff (including hysterically moving mouths, spouting modernisms, of Yaqui indios in the classic B&W movie). The excellent video and lighting designs are by Alexander V. Nichols. The costumes (Christal Weatherly) are creative and ever-changing, the sound design (Robbin E. Broad) is funny, and the swordplay is quite convincing (thanks to Fight Director Dave Maier). Our own Shirley Fishman served as dramaturg, and the music (apt and appropriately used) is by guitarist Vincent Christopher Montoya (brother of Culture Clash's Richard Montoya).
THE PLAYERS: The Culture Clash trio is in fine form, though everyone screamed through the first act on opening night. Mercifully, they settled down (and into the space) for Act 2, which is less funny but more political. Richard Montoya makes for an excellent hyper-assimilated Chicano Everyman, the writer/hero (who starts and ends in a straitjacket, being Gitmo-interrogated because he insists he's Zorro). He experiences sex-, drug- and alcohol-fueled fantasies and hallucinations, as well as Bear-apy (therapy from that homoerotic grizzly, humorously played by Ric Salinas).Montoya does a great job as the masked crusader (duels included) when he's called upon to take over the role, and he frequently elevates the level of discourse with his poetic sensibilities and lyrical language. Herbert Siguenza is his usual uproarious self, playing the stooped and aged Don Ringo ("the first Chicano!" he says repeatedly, assuming that slouchy 'Zoot Suit/'Orale! stance) as well as the raven-haired Indian, Trader Joe, and the gilded, goose-stepping, Hummer-driving Austrian governor. Ric Salinas is best as Kyle, the oversexed Bear, but he's also funny as the (also gay and oversexed) desperado Whiskey Pete. For the first time in their local productions, Culture Clash has added other actors to the mix (too many characters even for these zany chameleons – and no trace of drag in this show!). Sharon Lockwood is wonderful as the worldly-wise, sexually experienced, 200 year-old woman who is the guide and catalyst for Montoya's spiritual/political journey. Joseph Kamal plays several roles well, including a black-clad, shades-wearing interrogator and both the wealthy, foppish Don Diego and his macho alter-ego, Zorro (until Montoya takes over). When he finally breaks free, literally and literarily, Montoya entreats us all to "find our inner Zorro" and fight for social justice; his timing, given the State of the State – and the Union — couldn't be better.
THE LOCATION: La Jolla Playhouse, through October 29
BOTTOM LINE: Best Bet
THE JOKER IS WILD
THE SHOW: Four Queens – No Trump, winner of the NAACP's Best Play Award for 1997
THE STORY/THE BACKSTORY: Ted Lange may be best known as Isaac Washington, the bartender on "The Love Boat" (he spent ten seasons on the show), but he happens to be an alum of London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his Broadway debut in Hair, and he's written 19 plays, and several "Love Boat" scripts. He's been a director, a mentor and a guiding force behind the Directors Guild Fellowship program that helps develop job opportunities for women and minorities. His story focuses on the game of bid-whist, which has been played by African Americans since the Civil War. Although it's still considered a rite of passage (especially at black colleges), neither director Floyd Gaffney nor his capable cast knew how to play. Gaffney learned from the playwright and passed it along. And there were plenty of women in the audience the night I was there who knew every move and relished every bid. It's a partnership trick-taking game not unlike bridge or spades. And it's a serious social occasion in the black community. In the play, four friends have a regular Friday night game.
THE PLAYERS/PRODUCTION: Floyd Gaffney has directed this slight but entertaining/amusing piece with heart and obvious affection. The set (uncredited) is Deola's modest, well-appointed living room in South Central L.A. She's the weekly hostess of the beloved card game, providing warmth, solace and themed culinary delights — from chitlins to Thai. She's recently opened a dog grooming shop that also features her metaphysical readings. Deborah Branch is wonderful as the dashiki-wearing Earth Mother/psychic who knows who's at the door before they knock but can't, unfortunately, predict the trials or triumphs of her female friends. In the first scene, she welcomes Edna, a new addition to the group, fresh from her Texas divorce (a robust, credible performance by Ché Lyons, recently notable in Moxie's Gibson Girl and Lynx Theatre's Exonerated). The young/sexy (and, it turns out, oversexed) one is Jocenia (beautiful Yolanda Franklin), and the earthy, passionate, trash-talking Maude is expressively and expansively portrayed by Candace Ludlow Trotter. Rounding out the cast (in a fairly superfluous secondary storyline) is the formidable Bill Dunnam, who plays a gentle giant for a change, instead of the menacing killer-types he so often inhabits. The lines weren't always set and stable the night I was there, but the characterizations were deep, rich and satisfying. There isn't much plot or narrative arc, and it's a tad formulaic, each woman pouring her heart and troubles out for mutual fixing at some time during the show. But you can overlook a lot, since these folks sure are fun to hang with for an evening.
THE LOCATION: Common Ground Theatre at New World Stage, through October 15
THE MILLION MAN MARCH
THE SHOW: Middle-Aged White Guys, written by the elusive, long-unidentified Pulitzer Prize-nominated Jane Martin (active but unsighted for decades; generally considered to be the former Actors Theatre of Louisville artistic director Jon Jory)
THE STORY/THE BACKSTORY: Okay, the country's in a mess. [The play was written nearly a dozen years ago – 1995 — but that statement still holds true.] And it's all due to the titular lugs and thugs – slug-like, big-bellied, middle-aged, "Eurocentric Anglo Saxon" white guys who've been in control of things for far too long. Now the women are taking their revenge, and God (also female) is prepared for the iniquitous males to do their penance. Her words are handed down through sexy, young RV, who appears in the same red dress she wore when she drove off a bridge 20 years ago. The three trailer-trash brothers who loved her (one of whom, apparently the wrong one, married her), show up at the garbage dump that was the site of a near-perfect baseball game one of the brothers, Moon, the pitcher, threw away – and that was RV's final straw. So the 3 corrupt Mannering slimeballs gather on what would have been the pitcher's mound, for their annual commemorative/memorial ritual beer-toast to RV, and suddenly, there she is, in all her glory. They fall down on their knees. And she delivers the message from On High. But not before the incensed, gun-toting 'I'm-mad-as-hell-and-I'm-not-gonna-take-it-any-more' second wife comes in to vent her rage at her slimy, philandering husband. And their long-dead mother shows up to put her disgusted two-cents in. Oh, and Elvis appears, too ("King of the White Man, guitar in one hand and ruination of the Western world in the other"). If Martin is a man, s/he sure is having a male-bashing field-day. And these sleazebags deserve it. What they have to do for reparation and atonement is walk 600 miles to the Washington Monument , carrying a huge sign saying 'I'm Sorry' ("the cry of sins committed; the cry of sins repented"). And oh yes, they have to be buck naked. The thought alone is chilling, but having to actually witness these three drop trou (even if all we see is their underwear) is more than enough for any theatergoer to endure.
THE PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: The set (Vincent Sneddon) is great: the chrome-trimmed nose of an old red Ford pointing at the audience, surrounded by trashcans, wire spools and a great expanse of rubbish and detritus projected behind. The light and sound (Eusevio Gordoba) are also effective. Under the direction of theater pro Ralph Elias, the tone is perfectly light and satirical, and the performances are great.
Katharine Tremblay, an alumna of the British American Drama Academy , is definitely a fresh young Face to Watch. She is beautiful as the red-dressed RV, whom she infuses with just the right balance of sexiness and sarcasm. Dale Morris enters dressed in Lincoln beard and very high hat (as the town's mayor, he's ready to deliver the 4th of July speech, until he slips and gets mired in dog-do). He's an aptly blustery blowhard as Roy , perhaps the most crooked of the brothers, a scheming, womanizing animal who's dealing in what he calls "food additives," but are really the chemicals that were used in nerve gas. Roy brags that he's enriched the town by making it the receptacle for several states' garbage. Some of his finer moments: " America has too much damn government," he pontificates. Americans, he says, "see the problem, fix the problem… Fools cannot see the problem. Fools cannot fix the problem. These are Democrats." He also firmly believes that "women are neurologically disadvantaged, with the IQ of a collie-dog," asserting that "I'm the best damn thing genetics ever came up with : the White Man."
Roy, who weaseled his way into his political position, married RV, though it was always his brother Moon that she loved. Moon, forcefully and effectively played by Dónal Pugh, is a soldier of fortune, a mercenary, a self-proclaimed "brute killer for pay" ("He sure does like to kill things," says brother Clem). Moon's fought in every warring nation imaginable ("You gotta kill a few people for Democracy," he asserts), and he's just arrived, in full battle array, from Liberia , ready for the ritual beer-toast to RV. Clem (sad-sack gentle giant Gerry Maxwel), the dim-witted, sensitive brother, has also bedded RV (her act of mercy? Sympathy? ), is the only one with any semblance of tenderness. Nonetheless, he's an inveterate drinker, his wife has left him and gone to live with the Navajos in Arizona , and he's suffering guilt pangs for having sold an AK-47 to a man whose 8 year-old brought the dang thing to school because he thought the teacher was a lesbian. If this play doesn't sound like it was written about five minutes ago, I don't know what does. Anyway, it ain't over. The boys' long-dead mother (solid, convincing Joan Westmoreland) also shows up, with Elvis (funny Volt Francisco) in tow. The women do get their vociferous say, when Rachel Carey, as Roy 's current, miserably unhappy wife, rants at that no-good slimeball who ruined her life. And at the end, there's the hard-to-get-out-of-your-head image of men marching across the country in their altogether, which is enough to make anyone cry "Uncle !, " "Peace!" and "Curtain!"
THE LOCATION: 6th @ Penn Theatre, through Nov. 8
PAPA'S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG ..
THE SHOW: Hemingway's Rose, a wacky comic creation by actor Matt Thompson (currently cracking audiences up in North Coast Rep's Leading Ladies) under the banner of his Plutonium Theatre Company
THE STORY: In three scenes, three disparate people come together, seemingly for the first time, in virtually the same guise: the nutty fantasist, the bespectacled realist and the no-nonsense pragmatist. The underlying theme seems to be Lighten Up, have fun, go with the flow, let your imagination run free. But the ending sort of jerks you out of that straight-ahead interpretation, and it doesn't quite work. Are these really kids in a playground? Is this all a fantasy? Or what? The play may need tweaking, but the performances, under the direction of Angela D. Miller (who just did an excellent job with several pieces in the Actors Festival), are superb. Hemingway really doesn't have too much to do with it. And there isn't a rose in sight. But who's taking notes? (I am!). There are enough comic moments and deep down belly laughs that you can forgive a lot. And Thompson has a wonderful way with off-the-wall dialogue and situations.
THE PLAYERS/PRODUCTION: The production values are minimal, since the show has to share the set with the White Guys. So they cover that old car and put in a bench here, a chair there. It works just fine. Because, with the solid support of Julie and Jonathan Sachs, who basically serve as straight-men and foils, the play is really a showcase for Plutonium's Ted Reis, an antic, chameleon mix of Robin Williams (without the mania) and John Belushi (without the violent edge). He is a whirlwind of hilarity, rapidly changing accents, dialects, flights of fancy, lies and wild imaginings. He played a similarly annoying noodge in The Nerd at North Coast Rep, but since that character is relentlessly the same, it became grating. Here, Reis really gets to show his comic chops; his timing is impeccable, his 'Huh? Who-me?' ingenuousness, his sheer delight in his own inventions are absolutely priceless. He needs more vehicles to display his gut-busting talent. It'd be great to see the very comic Thompson in his own work, too. More power to Plutonium; long may it ignite and explode!
THE LOCATION: Late night Fridays (10:30) and mid-afternoons (4pm) Saturdays at 6th @ Penn Theatre, through October 28
FACE THE MUSIC AND DANCE
THE SHOW: The 8th year of Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theater's outstanding Trolley Dances, created and directed b
THE STORY/THE BACKSTORY: This year, Isaacs took a risk, asking folks to venture into 'unknown territory' … along the Orange Line, in some of San Diego's more colorful, less-touristed areas. And the result was outstanding: the two-weekend, 32-performance event drew 1750 people (only 200 shy of last year's highly visible and well-traveled Mission Valley/SDSU tour). Although budget cuts required Isaacs to do more of the work herself (she choreographed three pieces for the event), this was a stronger and more amusing/entertaining array of performances.
THE DANCES/DANCERS: The tour started in the multihued Market Creek Plaza on Euclid Avenue . In fact, it started inside the Food 4 Less, one of the largest, Costco-sized supermarkets I've ever seen. In "Precision (sic) Produce Handling," eight dancers situated themselves in the produce department, dressed in red employee aprons, and proceeded, to the music from the food-fest film, "Big Night," to mangle the fruit — tossing it around, passing it under their chins, using it seductively to charm nearby observers (I was one, spellbound and eye-locked by entrancing Anjanette Maraya). Isaacs' choreography was joyful, precise and whimsical, and it was as much fun to watch the non-participants (i.e., regular shoppers) as the dancers. Other highlights of the tour were Isaacs' spectacular "Two Forms" (created in 1980), performed by the wonderfully lithe, long-legged Rachel Sebastian, principal dancer with the San Diego Ballet. Paired with a sculpture by Louis Nidorf (that Isaacs took out of her own yard, refinished and re-positioned in a barren lot on 47th Street), Sebastian, on point, wrapped her sleek, lissome form around the stark geometric shapes, creating a new sculpture of heartbreaking beauty. San Francisco choreographer Monica Bill Barnes, who's made two other inventive contributions to Trolley Dances, provided a deliciously whimsical piece in a huge vacant lot at 25th Street and Commercial. Her ten dancers, wearing slightly raggy white formal tuxedo tails, cavorted in unison, covering huge swaths of ground, waddling very much like the March of the Penguins, shuffling into divets of dirt, righting themselves, railing at the sky and pushing on, ultimately being far from the audience, who watched, rapt, through a chain-link fence. As they faded from view, they looked like the end of some black-and-white silent film, some Charlie Chaplin satire. Thoroughly captivating. The Most Intriguing Location Award goes to the area across from the Market Creek Plaza called WriterZBlok: a gathering for teens. When the tagging had gotten out of control in the Plaza, this area was created as an alternative, a series of walls explicitly intended for graffiti. Teen taggers can bring their own paint and have a field-day. The colors are vibrant and the creativity considerable. San Diego Dance Theatre's Bradley R. Lundberg had 11 dancers in cargo-pants strutting confidently through the area, in and out of a rusted but gaily painted old VW and leading the audience through the fascinating and ever-changing site.
This was definitely a Trolley Dances to remember. If you missed it this year, you lost a terrific opportunity to expand your horizons – artistically and geographically.
TALKIN' ABOUT THE BIG C… OR NOT
THE SHOW/THE BACKSTORY: I caught a rehearsal of the new play, listen, at SDSU, and it surely is an intriguing project, a true 'natural history.' It all started in 1988, when an SDSU student was enrolled in a communications class taught by Dr. Wayne Beach. The assignment was to analyze the details of naturally occurring conversation. The student hooked up his telephone to a tape recorder, and the first call he received was from his father, telling him his mother had terminal adrenal cancer. Over 13 months, until his mother's death, he recorded 60 calls among family members, a startling document of one family's journey through terminal illness. The tapes were ultimately donated to SDSU and, under the direction of Beach and theater professor/director Paula Kalustian, a master's thesis created 500 pages of detailed transcripts of the calls. Initial funding for the project was provided by the American Cancer Society in 1998. Enter playwright Patricia Loughrey, who condensed the reams of carefully annotated data (diacritical markings indicated precisely how each phrase was spoken, including intonation, pauses, lip-smacks, etc.) into an 80-page, one-hour theater piece. Workshop readings of her play earlier this year, attended by families, surgeons, hospice workers, grief counselors and survivors, received an overwhelmingly positive response. Support from the University President's Leadership Fund and the Dean's Excellence Fund have allowed for this full production, which features local actors (not students): Christopher T. Miller, thoroughly engaging as the son; Jerusha Neal, warm and wonderful as his mother; Walter Ritter as the no-nonsense father; with Kym Pappas and Mai Lon Wong filling in other roles and providing narration. The inventive staging, by Carla Nell, includes audio and video support. It's a captivating production.
Loughrey, who's spent the last ten years creating HIV education play and educational theater for youth, now teaches playwriting at State and at Diversionary Theatre, where she served as dramaturge for last year's A Bright Room Called Day. She told me that everyone involved in the piece has had some experience with terminal illness – except for her. This, she felt, helped her avoid over-sentimentalizing the play. Interestingly, and for the same 'distancing' reason, she also has yet to listen to the original tapes. "If I did," she said, "and it became really personal, it would have been much harder to cut." Another fascinating part of the story is that the affected family, though they have given the rights (subsequently sold to a Medical Consortium) to Beach and SDSU, continues to remain anonymous and has no plans to see the finished theatrical project. Loughrey and Nell agreed that the cast should work on-book; "I want the audience to hear the reality of this family," she said. "I didn't want to turn it into a Hallmark story. Reading off scripts makes the performance style different and puts the focus on the text. There's a mysterious magic in the material." One interesting communicative trend she noted in the transcripts: Bad news was always bracketed by something encouraging. "There's chemistry involved in hope," she said.
THE LOCATION: SDSU's Experimental Theatre; 10/6 & 10/7 at 8pm; 10/7 & 10/8 at 2pm; www.tickets.sandiegoperforms.com
… Don't shine-on the Fall Harvest Moon Festival, hosted by the San Diego Asian American Repertory Theatre. The benefit banquet, celebrating the Chinese holiday and the company's 10th anniversary, takes place this Sunday at 5:30pm at Jasmine Restaurant ( 4609 Convoy St # A; 92111 ). Authentic Cantonese cuisine, silent auction, music by Bridget Brigitte, a tribute to Marianne McDonald and, in support of the world premiere of her House of Chaos (coming, via AART, to New World Theatre next spring), internationally renowned playwright Velina Hasu Houston. Tix at the door, or at 888-568-2278.
… Just in time for Halloween… or in advance of the Patté Awards (Jan. 8)…don't miss the Old Globe Theatre's Costume and Prop Sale on Saturday, Oct. 14 from 8am-2pm in the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. Check out the attire created by renowned designers and worn by guest celebrities such as Mary Louise Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Dana Delany, Mariette Hartley, John Goodman, Billy Campbell and others. Here's your chance to sparkle like the stars.
…Last week, when I mentioned Richard Baird, and his upcoming gig at the Southwest Shakespeare Company, playing the lead in Cyrano de Bergerac, I neglected to indicate who's directing that production that will give Richard his Actors Equity card: None other than the locally beloved David Ellenstein, artistic director of North Coast Repertory Theatre.
…The Movie Makers: Local playwright David Wiener is presenting a staged reading of his play, Louis and Irving – the Movie Moguls, which won 2nd prize in the Palm Springs International Playwriting Competition (2004) and was selected for the Los Angeles Celebrity Playreading Series (coming in 2007). This, says Wiener, is the real story of "the REAL Irving G. Thalberg and Louis B. Mayer," a tormented partnership that created MGM. Classic Film Fans, take note! Monday, October 16, 7-10pm, at James Dublino's Applauz Theatre, 450 Fletcher Pkwy, Ste. 201, El Cajon; 619-440-6714
… Busy busy busy. Common Ground Theatre is in the midst of its latest production, Four Queen s – No Trump (see review, above), and it's already on to the next. An early performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors, the contemporary opera by Gian Carlo Menotti, can be seen this weekend, followed by two weeks of performances in late November-early December. So get a jump on the season with this tender, touching story of a disabled but imaginative shepherd boy, his impoverished mother, and their magical visit from the star-guided Wise Men. It's an inspiring fable of how faith, charity, good deeds and unselfish love can work miracles. Originally written for TV and geared for young imaginations, it premiered on NBC on Christmas Eve, 1951 ,and played for 16 consecutive seasons, becoming one of the most frequently performed operas of the 20th century. Directed by Floyd Gaffney, with instrumental and musical direction by Michael Morgan. Saturday, Oct. 7 (1-4pm) at St. Paul 's Cathedral Center for the Performing and Visual Arts, 2728 6th Avenue .
… Another theater space lost. Calvin Manson reports that he and his Ira Aldridge Repertory Players will no longer be able to use Express Stage, in the Acoustic Expressions Music Store, as a performance venue. The new owner has, he says "a different vision for the theater space" (he'll be using it to display guitars); Calvin had put a great deal of time and energy into creating a warm, intimate theater environment. He is looking forward and making plans to obtain a stable homebase, and celebrating the three productions that he was able to mount in this space. During this last weekend of the run of Ain't You Heard, the bubbly tribute to Langston Hughes, he's using the performances to help raise money to support High Tech High school students seeking support for their various trips for immersion into another culture. IARP will give $5 of every ticket sold, and a friend of Manson's will match every donation dollar for dollar. So you can say farewell to a space, honor Langston Hughes and support knowledge-expanding schoolkids all at once. For more info on the High Tech High program: www.hightechhigh.org/shcools/HTHI/immersion.php
.. Poetic Justice: The San Diego Shakespeare Society cordially invites you to its annual evening of Celebrity Sonnets, during which local celebs from the world of arts, education, music, drama and media apply their creative energies to Shakespeare's timeless verse – through song, dance or recitation. This year's honored guests include: Karen Keltner, resident conductor of the San Diego Opera; Dalouge Smith, director of the San Diego Youth Orchestra; Scott Feldsher, founder/artistic director of Sledgehammer Theatre; Claudia Russell of Jazz 88, with accompanist Mike Keneally, formerly of the Frank Zappa band; members of the California Ballet; arts advocates Dea Hurston and Merle Fischlowitz, and others. The harmonious Cheshire Singers A Capella Choral Group will add their Elizabethan finery and fine voices. I'll be the host again (in my finery). Admission is FREE (donations, gratefully accepted, will benefit the 2nd annual San Diego Student Shakespeare Festival, to be held April 28 in Balboa Park ). The Sonnet event, always great and creative fun, is Monday, October 23 (7:30pm) in the Old Globe Theatre. www.sandiegoshakespearesociety.org.
Four Queens – No Trump – a delightful quartet of African American women you'll enjoy spending an evening with
Common Ground Theatre at New World Stage, through October 15
Hemingway's Rose – more a showcase than a fully fleshed-out play, but the comic, chameleon performance of Ted Reis is absolutely worth seeing
Late night Fridays (10:30) and mid-afternoons (4pm) Saturdays at 6th @ Penn Theatre, through October 28
Middle-Aged White Guys – fanciful and fantastical, but biting and satirical, too; very well acted and directed
Weekends at 6th @ Penn Theatre, through November 8
Culture Clash's Zorro in Hell – they're wild and wacky, but their crazy/antic/silly agit-prop theater has a lot to say
At the La Jolla Playhouse, through October 29
Ain't You Heard? – a funny, poignant tribute to Langston Hughes, "the Poet Laureate of Harlem," based on the stories, poems and characters he created about African American life
Ira Aldridge Repertory Players at Express Stage in North Park , through October 7
George Gershwin Alone – a rhapsody of melodies, fantastically played (and you find out a few things about George, too, by George!)
At the Old Globe, through October 22.
Ella – some great singing and playing; wonderful performance, excellent band
At the San Diego Repertory Theatre, through October 15
Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit – hilarious spoofs, now featuring an all-San Diego cast (all alums of the SDSU MFA program in musical theatre). Get 'em while they're hot!
At the Theatre in Old Town , ongoing
Columbus Day is coming up – so why not try exploring some new turf of your own… visit a theater you've never been to before. You might make a discovery.
© 2006 PATTÉ PRODUCTIONS, INC.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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