reviewsbyerin | "These Three Remain" by Pamela Aidan

Following in the footsteps of "An Assembly Such as This" and "Duty and Desire," this final installment in the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series brings us the climactic events of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" from the hero's point of view. Darcy's love for Elizabeth is on full display, from the opening scene on the way to Kent all the way through to the final lines on the last page.

After the disastrous events of the second novel, Darcy is ready to forget women everywhere and revoke his emotional attachment to Elizabeth for good. But the very day he makes this choice, he arrives at the home of his aunt for his yearly visit and discovers that Elizabeth herself is visiting her good friend just down the lane. A meeting is inevitable, and his heart will not listen to his cautions.

Finding Elizabeth just as witty and lovely as she was in Hertfordshire, Darcy decides he cannot live without her and begins what he believes to be a courtship, mistaking Elizabeth's responses to him as a form of shy encouragement. When he finally makes a declaration of his love in the Hunsford parsonage, he is beyond shocked at her round refusal and complete dismissal of him, his hopes, and his character.

Darcy returns to London and spirals into despair. How could he have been so blind to her true feelings? Could it be possible that he is more the man she thinks he is rather than what he has always tried to be? With the determined love of his sister and the strength of a good friend helping pull him through, Darcy begins overhauling the way he views the world and attempts to become the kind of man that Elizabeth would be proud to call friend, even though he knows he may never cross paths with her again.

I positively loved this book and found it thoroughly engrossing. Darcy's emotions were so palpable, whether it be his love or his pain or his decisions to make himself a better man. Although I enjoyed the first two books, I found this one to be the best by far. I hated every time I had to put it down, even though being familiar with Austen's original meant I knew how events were going to unfold. Pamela Aidan added a whole new dimension to the story and it had me hooked. I have a new understanding of Fitzwilliam Darcy which will enhance every future reading of the classic or the viewing of its various adaptations.

This series, and especially this final book, is one I would recommend to all Austen fans. If I may badly quote Lady Metcalfe talking to Lady Catherine: "Pamela Aidan, you have given [us] a treasure."