Superior Connections: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

Authors’ This story was started a while ago as a novella, and it became twice as long, completed as a collaboration between two authors with different styles and different writing experiences but with equal love for Austenesque romance.
We know little of Mr Bennet’s past and how it happened that Longbourn became entailed on Mr Collins.
What if the past is suddenly revived and comes to make amends in the present? And what if the Bennets have superior connections who consider Mr Bingley not good enough for Jane and respond to Mr Darcy’s pride and arrogance in a similar manner?
In the autumn of 1811, when Mr Bingley leases Netherfield, an elderly lady of consequence, with an impressive fortune, purchases Stoke Park. She is none other than Mr Bennet’s aunt, who has been abroad for more than twenty years and, having no closer family, wishes to strengthen her connection to the Bennets. The lady becomes protective of the sisters and is especially fond of Jane and Elizabeth. When angry, she can be as proud, arrogant, and resentful as Mr Darcy — and even more offensive and rude than Mr Bingley’s sisters.
Even before the lady’s arrival, Elizabeth suffers a small accident, which gives Mr Darcy the opportunity to come to her aid and for them to know each other a little better, leading to her improving her ill opinion of him.
Jane and Mr Bingley’s feelings for each other are the same, and Mr Wickham is also in the story, but the aunt is neither deceived nor impressed by his appearance of goodness.
However, pride and prejudice are not easily dismissed from the story. During the Netherfield ball, the lady, together with Elizabeth, happens to hear a mean discussion between Mr Bingley, his sisters, and Mr Darcy about Jane. Enraged, she confronts those culpable, demands explanations, and hurls harsh accusations. She plans to take the two eldest Bennet sisters to London, convinced that she can find good husbands for her great-nieces from among the most eligible gentlemen of the ton.
What will a proud man like Darcy do after he is severely scolded and deeply offended? How will he handle the danger of losing Elizabeth’s good opinion and ruining Bingley’s happiness?
Mr Darcy, Mr Bingley, and his sisters return to London a month before the lady and the eldest Bennet sisters. But once in town, Jane does not have to beg for attention from the Bingleys — quite the opposite.
Do not worry; we all know that our beloved couples — Elizabeth and Darcy as well as Jane and Bingley — are meant to be and will find a way to be together regardless of the help or opposition of others.
‘Superior Connections’ is a romantic, witty, amusing tale, focused mostly on Elizabeth and Darcy’s love story and the growth of their characters under different circumstances. There are a few romantic scenes but nothing graphic, and it can be recommended for readers of all ages.