What better love story could there be for Valentine’s Day than Elizabeth and Darcy’s? I have a long history with Pride and Prejudice, full of wonderful memories. I first listened to it on cassette tape on a harrowing road trip at night through the North Carolina mountains with my mother and children. It was dark and foggy and no one could contact us because we couldn’t get a cell signal. We had a great time, though, listening to the book.
Later, I read it and laughed myself silly at the witty dialogue. A few years after that, I finally was able to rent a video set of the BBC production. I watched it with my young teenaged daughter and we fell in love with the story. A few more years on, a like-minded friend and I decided that it would be great fun to have a P&P spend-the-night to binge-watch the whole thing. Thanks to her business contacts in the hospitality industry, it turned into a full-blown mother-daughter event at a Bed-and-Breakfast.
The girls received “wedding invitations” and were given the option of wearing evening dresses or period costumes. We not only watched the movie, we had a WEDDING RECEPTION for Elizabeth and Darcy, complete with a real wedding cake and a photographer! Handsome “tux guys” were on hand to carry the girls’ luggage. We did it for four years in a row near Valentine’s Day. It was finally derailed by our kids growing up, graduating, getting married, and other life events.
If you’ve never read Pride and Prejudice, please do! It is so much more than the story chart reveals. Austen was a perceptive and adept commentator on society. She poked fun at the absurdity of social conventions, while remaining entertaining. Then, AFTER you read it, treat yourself to the fabulous BBC production.
SPOILER ALERT! Don’t look at the chart until you have read the book! Then click on the book title below to go to my updated story chart!
Pride and Prejudice Story Chart
