A night at PemberleyAnne Harlowe2013

This book contains three stories which were previously published separately. In A Night at Pemberley, Elizabeth finds secret documents which reveal the truth about Wickham’s relationship to Darcy. The story draws upon Catherine’s experiences in Northanger Abbey.

Darcy’s Dark Secret tells of Elizabeth’s experiences at Pemberley soon after her marriage to Darcy. He gives her the keys to the house and says she is free to go anywhere – except the East Wing. What could be the secret of the East Wing? Elizabeth just has to find out. This story was inspired by The Castle of Wolfenbach.

Shades of Pemberley has a modern setting. The title was inspired by a comment by Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride and Prejudice. It is a frame story which, as well as being a horror story itself, provides a framework for three other horror stories.

Pride and Prejudice fans should note that all these stories celebrate the gothic, rather than the romantic, in Jane Austen’s oeuvre. They are the kind of gothic burlesque which Jane Austen enjoyed writing herself, with shades of Northanger Abbey, Udolpho, Bluebeard, Jane Eyre, and The Castle of Wolfenbach, as well as some popular legends about England’s stately homes