Austen fans take note: There are currently two books out entitled Mr. Darcy's Diary. One (which we are planning on reviewing in a few weeks) is by Amanda Grange, and one is by Maya Slater. We singled the Slater title out a few months ago for its appealing cover art, but if you're interested in, say, plausible characterization, you might want to stick with Grange's interpretation.

Novelist Wendy Holden recently wrote a review of the Slater book for the Daily Mail. According to Holden, Slater's Darcy is "emotionally literate and perceptive... interested in good cooking, sensitive to his men-friends and into social justice and ethical investing... cool with homosexuality...". Well, that all sounds nice. I'm not sure about the "emotionally perceptive" part (that doesn't sound much like Austen's Mr. Darcy), but, hey, I'm open minded about a little character tweaking!

Oh, wait. Apparently, "Darcy gets busy with two blondes during an orgy at Newstead Abbey".

...okay, I'm not that open minded. So I checked out the sample pages released by Ms. Slater's publisher, and by page 11 Mr. Darcy is spending quality time with a hooker named Clarabelle. Clarabelle has, and I quote, "fine paps to her".

Charming!

To read all of Ms. Holden's review, click here.

Labels: Jane Austen, Retellings