When Mary Street’s The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy was first published in the U.K. in 1999, it looked like this:


Now, almost ten years later, it is finally being published in the United States. The new edition from Penguin looks like this:


Quite a step up, huh? The new version is a much better fit for Street’s novel, which is one of the best Pride and Prejudice-inspired titles I have ever read. Unlike many of the novels that have re-told Austen’s story from Darcy’s point of view, Ms. Street’s novel is G-rated, well-written, and sticks closely to the Pride and Prejudice storyline. (Unlike some people, Ms. Street obviously understands that most readers are only mildly interested in a creative interpretation of what Darcy does during the time he is absent from the original novel.)

The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy has its flaws: Street’s attempt to imitate Austen’s style results in a lot of strange grammar choices, and her vision of Mr. Darcy as a man of overpowering-but-ruthlessly-suppressed passion gets a little silly. (He’s like a pot about to boil over, all of the time.) Still, Ms. Street’s novel is extremely entertaining, and American readers should be delighted that this well-written Austen tribute is now available—and with such respectable cover art.

Labels: Book Cover, Jane Austen, Mary Street, Retellings