Pemberley Ranch
by Jack Caldwell
After losing their eldest son in the Civil War, the Bennet family moves from Merryton, Ohio, to Rosings, Texas, to start over. Their daughter Beth is appalled at the thought of moving to a Southern state, swearing never to forget that she is a Northerner. Her sister Jane falls in love with the town’s new doctor, Charles Bingley, friend of the largest landowner, Will Darcy. The two met during the war fighting for the South. When Charles’ Georgia plantation is burned during Sherman’s march to the sea, he decides to follow his friend home. Beth can forgive Charles his Southern roots after he marries Jane, but she is hard-pressed to like his best friend. Can Beth overcome her prejudice toward Will? Can Will explain his true character to Beth? In Caldwell’s reincarnation of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Caldwell successfully transplants the themes of the original to post–Civil War Texas, where the consequences and the villains are far more dangerous. Both fans of westerns and Pride and Prejudice will enjoy this latest entry in the Austen craze.