My Fair Lizzy...Barbara Silkstone

Barbara Silkstone and Mr. Darcy are the esteemed guests for More Agreeable Engaged today. It's such a pleasure for you to have us visit your London town house, Mr. Darcy. It is lovely and my Readers and I grateful. We appreciate you, Barbara and Mr. Darcy, for allowing us to sit in on your interview about My Fair Lizzy. Thank you also for such a generous giveaway for my readers. 

We shall now quietly fade into the background so you may proceed with your interview, Ms. Silkstone.

Chatting with Mr. Darcy

Join me in the London town house of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy as we enjoy a bit of a chat and a cup of Lapsang tea. Accomplished in linguistics and etiquette, Darcy’s manners immediately put me on edge. I know how Lizzy must have felt in such fine company. I can only hope to be on my best behavior. The safest way to acquit myself is to follow his lead. Darcy did not use cream or sugar in his tea, and so I nervously follow suit. He holds his cup and saucer at chest level, and I do the same hoping I do not spill it in my lap.

Gazing around the elegant room done up in shades of burgundy and rich purple against a soft gray background, I take a deep breath and begin the interview while trying hard not to notice Darcy’s dark flashing eyes, and thick curly hair. I realize my cup is rattling on the saucer and carefully place them on the table at my side.

Barbara Silkstone:  Mr. Darcy, Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed. I understand that you are a very private person, and that makes me doubly grateful for this opportunity to speak with you. If I appear nervous please accept that you are a legend among half the women on earth. I was surprised to learn that you maintain a townhouse in London. Do you no longer reside at Pemberley?”

Darcy: My heart is always with Pemberley. I am in Derbyshire six months out of every year, but currently find myself drawn more and more to London. I don’t enjoy the insincerity of the ton, but the stimulation of the multitudes flowing into the City feeds my passion for elocution and dialects. I am forever studying how best to preserve our beautiful language from the odd vernaculars that seem determined to destroy it.

Silkstone: Is this the room where you tutored Elizabeth Bennet—Lizzy?

My host seems to relax at the mention of her name. He settles back in his chair, carefully balancing his cup and saucer. A smile graces his face allowing a dimple to appear in his left cheek.

Darcy: Miss Bennet and I spent many frustrating hours in this room. I have fond memories of us stretching one another’s patience within these walls. She does not take to repetition well, and learning proper elocution takes repeating.

Silkstone: Surely it couldn’t have been that bad? We are talking about Miss Elizabeth Bennet, a lady known for her charm and wit.

Darcy: If only you could have heard her. Close your eyes and you just might hear her. Press here!  https://soundcloud.com/barbara-silkstone/my-fair-lizzy-06

Darcy: Lizzy may be charming and clever, but the lady was in a hurry to be done with her instruction and return to her flower shop in Covent Garden. Let me offer a short explanation to you on how this all came about. You see, I accepted a wager from my dear friend Charles Bingley. He bet that I could not teach a lowly tradesman to pass for nobility.

Silkstone: So your tutoring Miss Bennet was the result of a wager?

Darcy: Yes. Bingley duped me into accepting Lizzy, Miss Bennet, as my student. During our first encounter at her flower shop I had taken an instant dislike to her for she was like an angry kitten. But I am a people person and quick to understand the inner feelings of others, and so I was patient with her.

Silkstone: You are a people person? That was not exactly the way Lizzy had described Darcy.

Darcy: You doubt me? I am known for my understanding of the human heart.

Silkstone: Even your own heart? At this point I am having a bit of trouble keeping a straight face.

Darcy: You have been talking to Lizzy, haven’t you? I suppose she used all those descriptive words she keeps in her pocket: pompous, proud, prideful, presumptuous, and ponderous? Hmm. Do you notice how they all begin with a “p”?

Repeat them after me; remember to sound those “p’s” without spitting.

Silkstone: I cast him a sympathetic look knowing he can’t help himself for he is naturally pedantic.  I understand you and Lizzy are to be wed, soon?

Darcy: I have learned many things from tutoring Lizzy, but the most important is: In order to be happily married a man must understand every word his wife is NOT saying. See how understanding I am? Now please excuse me. I have an appointment with the Archbishop of Canterbury. He has prepared our special license to marry!

Suddenly appearing nervous, he stood spilling his tea onto his waistcoat.

Darcy: Pardon me! Love has a tendency to make one clumsy. He blushes. The butler will see you out.

~~~

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A Regency tale ~ Lizzy Bennet, a sassy London shop girl is instantly attracted to Fitzwilliam Darcy, the arrogant, handsome visitor to the Bennets’ struggling Covent Garden flower shop. Darcy insists on purchasing Lizzy’s lucky orchid as a gift for his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Will Lizzy sell her family’s much needed good fortune to the haughty know it all?

Complications arise when Darcy accepts Bingley’s wager to make a sophisticated lady out of the humble flower girl. Can Lizzy endure Darcy’s mentoring in order to save the Bennet family’s flower shop? Will Caroline Bingley tolerate Darcy’s peppery new student? Will Wickham finally bring about Darcy’s ruination?

This is a light-hearted tale of a headstrong, London lass (Lizzy) whose drive to achieve more than life has handed her compels her to accept the position of pawn in a wager between two friends, (Darcy and Bingley). Gumption meets true love.

A fun read for all those who have ever enjoyed George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion.

Barbara Silkstone Bio

Barbara Silkstone is the author of over forty novels and novellas including the hilarious Wendy Darlin Capers – a five book series.

She has currently written nineteen Pride & Prejudice variations both Regency and Contemporary—always with a light comic touch. Look for Darcy and Elizabeth Serendipity and Darcy, Lizzy and Emma, Darcy, Lizzy and Lady Susan, The Gallant Vicar and The Return of the Gallant Vicar and My Fair Lizzy. Enjoy her Mister Darcy series of comedic mysteries – eight book series with more on the way! Also The Witches of Longbourn – a three book series imagining Darcy and Elizabeth as witches who come together to save the king of England from one of Darcy’s spells that has gone terribly wrong.

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***Give Away***

Giveaway:  Please post a comment by midnight Sunday October 29th to qualify for the drawing. One winner will received a signed paperback copy of My Fair Lizzy (US Only) and one winner will received an ebook version of My Fair Lizzy (outside the US.) Winners will be announced during the week of October 30^th. 

With love & laughter!

Barbara Silkstone

Thank you for letting us sit in on your interview. Mr. Darcy was, well, he was awesome, and I liked his blush when talking of 'love'! *sigh* What a man! Barbara, I was thrilled to get to have you share a More Agreeably Engaged post. I've been looking forward to this visit and I hope you will come again soon. The giveaway for my readers is much appreciated. Thank you again and I wish you much success with My Fair Lizzy. It sounds delightful!