Review: SONS AND DAUGHTERS by Karen V. Wasylowski

Karen V. Wasylowski has done it again with Sons and Daughters, an often hilarious, sometimes soul-wrenching, but always engaging tale as she continues the saga begun in the delicious Darcy and Fitzwilliam: A Tale of a Gentleman and an Officer.

True to the title, Darcy's and Fitzwilliam's children dominate the story. Darcy has three and Fitzwilliam nine. (Nine, you say? The man has worked overtime.) The book spans twenty years and we laugh and cry along with both clans as the parents age and their children grow and navigate the always difficult transition to adulthood.

Ms. Wasylowski’s flowing prose keeps you turning the pages to see what will happen next. With so many characters, something new, perhaps funny and perhaps heartbreaking, always happens. Like the time when the children, mostly preadolescent, find some erotic prints Fitzwilliam saved and aren’t sure what to make of them, although they’re certain they must be scandalous, to when Fitz’s wife, Amanda, has her ninth child in a very difficult birth.

Ms. Wasylowski’s is a master at writing the emotion of both adults and children, especially as she shows how the children’s feelings change as they mature. She also has a good ear for realistic dialog, whether the character is child or adult, male or female. At times, the boys are disgustingly boys, and the girls, while perhaps a little nicer, are the boys' matches in every way. And the parents, as parents do, yell and threaten as well as love their children to distraction.

I only wish the book was longer. With so many characters, Ms. Wasylowski by necessity had to skim over some stories. I’d like to know more about George and Kathy, and Anne Marie and Mr. Wentworth. Maybe a few novellas?

But if you want more fun with Darcy and Fitzwilliam, read Sons and Daughters.

Thank you all,

Linda

Book provided by the author

Review: DARCY AND FITZWILLIAM: A TALE OF A GENTLEMAN AND AN OFFICER by Karen V. Wasylowski

Laugh until your sides ache and then laugh some more with Karen V. Wasylowski's delicious Darcy and Fitzwilliam: A Tale of a Gentleman and an Officer. This absorbing, fast-moving romp of a book catalogs the often hilarious ups and downs in the enduring affectionate friendship of those brothers-in-spirit, cousins Fitzwilliam Darcy and Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam.

Darcy and Elizabeth have married, but nothing comes between the lifelong regard of Darcy and Fitzwilliam. Each always there to help the other, they weather life's catastrophes together with male camaraderie, competition and not a little joking.

As Caroline Bingley attempts yet again to come between Darcy and the now-pregnant Elizabeth, Fitzwilliam lends a hand in removing the threat of the viperish lady, assisted by none other than the formidable Lady Catherine de Bourgh herself.

And when Fitzwilliam finally meets his match in the American widow, Amanda, Darcy, along with Lady Catherine again, aids in securing the lady's son from the boy's guardian, who seeks to separate the child from his mother. And everyone closes ranks to help Elizabeth through the difficulties of childbirth.

I read this entire 481 page book in one day, laughing all the way. Ms. Wasylowski has a good ear for realistic male banter, most of it uproariously funny. The best two lines in the whole novel occur when Darcy and Fitzwilliam reminisce about their youth and the hilariously disgusting things young boys do to each other. I still laugh when I think of those lines.

A truly wonderful and original take on Pride and Prejudice. I can't wait for Ms. Wasylowski's next book.

Thank you all,
Linda
ARC supplied by Sourcebooks