From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress:
The holidays are here. I decorated my Christmas tree last week, baked cookies with my sister on Saturday, and am wrapping gifts. How about you?
Today I am pleased to welcome bestselling Austenesque author Abigail Reynolds to Austenprose. She has just released Spellbound at Pemberley, the first book in a new trilogy of speculative historical fantasy. Combining characters from Jane Austen’s popular classic Pride and Prejudice with magical elements, this Regency story is sure to charm those who enjoy variations of the original novel.
Please continue reading to discover details about Spellbound at Pemberley including a special message from the authoress herself, and an exclusive excerpt.
Happy Holidays, LA
A MESSAGE FROM AUTHOR ABIGAIL REYNOLDS
It’s fantastic to be back at Austenprose! This story began one day when I was musing about Mr. Darcy’s bond to his land at Pemberley, how it gave him both money and social status. And I started wondering what it would be like if the English landed classes quite literally derived their power – a magical power – from their centuries of connection to their estates. The more generations a family had been on their land, the greater the power. What an interesting twist that would be on ‘new money!’ Tradesmen might become rich, but they could never equal the magical power of a landed family that had come over with William the Conqueror.
Spellbound at Pemberley came from that seed of an idea, and it grew into a story too big to be told in one volume. As a writer of historical romances, I’m accustomed to fitting plot, character development, and a romance into a single book, but once a complex magical system is added, and an adventure big enough to warrant the use of the magic, it became too much for a single volume. Instead, Spellbound at Pemberley is the first book in a trilogy. Although the book covers Darcy and Elizabeth’s marriage of convenience and subsequent falling in love, it leaves off before they face the first step in their ultimate goal – stopping the war with Napoleon before his dragons can devastate England. That story continues through the next two volumes of the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Mage trilogy.
I hope you’ll join me on this exciting and romantic magical adventure!
Best regards, Abigail
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Experience a thrilling, magical twist on Jane Austen’s classic Pride & Prejudice in Spellbound at Pemberley, the first book of the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Mage trilogy!
Fitzwilliam Darcy is a powerful mage and master of illusions. His abilities make him the perfect man for a dangerous mission to end the devastating war with Napoleon – a mission that would leave him little chance of returning alive. When he meets the enchanting Elizabeth Bennet, whose magical Talents are as deep as they are inexplicable, he knows he needs her help. And there’s only one way to get that – marriage. Immediately.
Elizabeth wants nothing to do with his plan. Marrying Darcy would mean breaking her strong and beloved magical bond to Longbourn and giving up the use of her Talent forever. Then dragons enter the war in Europe, and England’s survival hangs in the balance. And Elizabeth must make the ultimate sacrifice.
In this first book of the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Mage trilogy, dragons are already watching their newlywed journey to Pemberley, and a shocking discovery will force them to question everything they believe. Can they learn to trust each other and work together to save their country–and their lives?
EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT
As Elizabeth reached the bottom step of the grand staircase at Netherfield, a voice spoke.
“Good morning, Miss Elizabeth. I was hoping to see you.” Mr. Darcy rose from one of the straight-backed chairs lining the front hall and tucked a small book into his pocket.
“Good morning, sir.” She strove to hide her surprise. Had he truly been sitting in an uncomfortable chair in the coldest room merely to encounter her?
“May I inquire if your sister’s illness is improving?” He sounded stiff, as if polite niceties did not come easily to him.
“Slowly, but yes. She ate a little breakfast and is now resting.”
A tentative smile flickered across his face. “Might I convince you to take a walk with me? There is something I wish to show you.”
She blinked. He wanted to spend time with her? Well, she might not enjoy his company, but she needed him to keep her secret, so if he wished her to walk with him, walk she would. “I would like that. Where are we going?”
He hesitated, glancing about as if making certain no one was nearby. “Would you be interested in seeing how I created the magical illusion of the cows?”
Interested? She would give a great deal for such an opportunity! Mages were notoriously secretive about their art. “Indeed I would!” she exclaimed.
His smile widened. “Excellent.”
There was more of autumn’s nip in the air as they set forth, but even the tapestry of colorful leaves could not compete with her bubbling excitement. She would see magery at work!
But why was Mr. Darcy making this sudden effort? Best to be cautious until she found the answer.
Mr. Darcy said little as they walked along the gravel lane beside the lake, past the folly and onto a footpath leading into the farmlands, stopping at a small pasture. “What would you like me to create? Cows again, or a different animal?”
She did not know what to do with this suddenly amiable, obliging Darcy, but she would take advantage of it. “Is there any limit?”
“A common animal, one whose ways I know, would be best. While I could make an illusory lion or elephant, they would not move convincingly, since I have never seen them in motion.”
“A sheep, then?” That was common enough.
He studied the pasture, and his body became motionless. She could not have said what was different, but the air around him had somehow changed, a stillness like being in the center of an oak grove on a summer day. Then he made a quick motion with his hands.
A black-faced ewe appeared not ten feet from them, placidly grazing.
It was convincing in every detail. Every whorl of wool, each hoof moving over the ground, even her jaw moving as she chewed grass. “Astonishing,” she murmured.
“You can go closer,” he urged.
She needed no second invitation. The sheep picked up her head and looked at her, for all the world as if she had heard Elizabeth’s approach.
Only standing next to the ewe could she see a difference, and even that was outside the illusion. The grass was not moving as the sheep grazed, instead staying upright and undamaged. “May I touch it?”
“If you wish, but you will feel nothing.”
She reached out to the ewe, but instead of the expected raspy fibers, her hand sank in until it disappeared up to her wrist. It was a most disturbing sight. She removed her hand – but how could she remove it when nothing was there? – as the sheep stared at her with unblinking eyes.
“Now, if you will, Miss Elizabeth, could you attempt to interact with her?”
Elizabeth pulled up some grass and held it up in front of the ewe’s face. “Here you are, a little treat,” she coaxed.
The sheep did nothing, of course.
Firming her resolve, she let magical Talent run into her from the earth. “Eat,” she said, imagining the sheep taking a bite, as she had imagined the cows fleeing the fire.
The ewe sniffed the grass, then took it between her teeth. Tugging at it, she began to chew.
But the grass was still in Elizabeth’s hand, and she had felt nothing when the sheep had apparently taken it. Her skin tingled. This was magic beyond anything she had ever imagined.
Mr. Darcy spoke from behind her. “Astounding. You actually altered my illusion. I have never heard of such a thing.”
Chapter 2, pages 11-13
AUTHOR BIO
Abigail Reynolds may be a nationally bestselling author and a physician, but she can’t follow a straight line with a ruler. Originally from upstate New York, she studied Russian and theater at Bryn Mawr College and marine biology at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. After a stint in performing arts administration, she decided to attend medical school, and took up writing as a way to retain her sanity during her years as a physician in private practice.
A life-long lover of Jane Austen’s novels, Abigail began writing variations on Pride & Prejudice in 2001, then expanded her repertoire to include a series of novels set on her beloved Cape Cod. Her most recent releases are Spellbound at Pemberley, The Price of Pride, A Matter of Honor, and Mr. Darcy’s Enchantment. Her books have been translated into seven languages. She lives on Cape Cod with her family and a menagerie of cats who rule the roost. Her hobbies do not include sleeping or cleaning her house.
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BOOK INFORMATION
- Spellbound at Pemberley: A Pride & Prejudice Variation (Fitzwilliam Darcy, Mage Book 1), by Abigail Reynolds
- White Soup Press (December 5, 2023)
- Trade paperback & eBook (297) pages
- ISBN: 978-1954417199
- Genre: Historical Fantasy, Regency Romance, Austenesque
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | GOODREADS
Cover image, book description, excerpt, and author bio courtesy of White Soup Press © 2023, text Laurel Ann Nattress © 2023, austenprose.com, an Amazon affiliate.
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Austenprose 
I am reading this at present and am about 80% through it. Enjoying it!
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So glad you’re enjoying Spellbound, Sheila! Thanks for stopping by!
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