Best Served Cold: Seven Pride and Prejudice Revenge Stories

Revenge is a dish best served cold, meaning it’s better to think carefully and enact a calculated revenge at a time and place of your choosing than to act precipitately in the heat of the moment. Of course, Marcus Arelius says, ‘The best revenge is living well,’ and Confucius says, ‘Before you set out on a course of revenge, first dig two graves.’

This collection of Revenge Stories examines the idea from several angles. We have short stories and a novella, with the revenge going from rather silly to quite violent. I’ve always been frustrated with stories where the characters just take it, so let’s see what happens when the injured take matters into their own hands.
Best Served Cold : Bingley really was a feckless weasel with leaving his sister to write to Jane after he bailed on her at Netherfield. Even if he let Darcy convince him to leave, would it have killed him to take his leave like a man, or write to her father, or somehow do something to mitigate his lack of fortitude and consideration? What happens if someone decides to get a bit of sweet-sweet revenge. Would she even care if someone else was in the firing line?
Paying the Piper : What would happen if some little birdie told the Meryton merchants about Wickham’s debts, and suggested they demand payment? I always wondered how he managed to pull it off—but what if he didn’t.
The Prejection : We all know the Regency system. The man proposes, and the lady accepts or rejects it. The lady is, of course, obliged to demurely wait around for the lunkhead to make his move (unless, of course, you are Caroline Bingley, or the like, where all bets are off). What if there was a more efficient system?
Special Delivery : Letters really were such a wrought subject. A letter can save someone a lot of confusion (like Darcy’s letter), or it could ruin someone’s reputation. People are expected to handle them with care and privacy (with the obvious exception of Mrs Bennet), but what happens if a personal letter ends up in the hands of someone who can do something about it?
Cash on the Nail : Wickham left debts everywhere he went, and for the most part, he got away with it. Darcy discharged those in Lambton, and he just kept moving in London What happens if one of those creditors decides he's not willing to let it slide, and he has enough muscle to do something about it.
Their Own Snake : In many ways, the Bennet's troubles were a case of being bitten by their own snakes. Bingley's abandonment of Jane was mostly driven by the poor behaviour of the Bennets at the Netherfield ball, and Elizabeth's naïve acceptance of Wickham's words, and finally, Lydia's elopement was entirely driven by her parent's negligence. What if one of the sisters decided to do something about it?
Sleep of the Just : All of the Bennets are very ordinary and their adventures around the arrival of the Netherfield party were similarly benign. What if one of the Bennets were not ordinary, and was in fact in possession of a preternatural ability coupled with overly heightened senses of both responsibility and resolve? How would that person act, and how would that change the story.

These are not the passive heroines you remember, waiting for fate to intervene. In this collection, the women are the architects of their own destiny, wielding vengeance as deftly as embroidery needles.