The Courtship of Edward Gardiner: A Pride & Prejudice Prequel

Every great love has a beginning. In Austen's Pride and Prejudice, we meet with perhaps the most sensible, caring relatives a lovelorn young woman could hope for: Mr and Mrs Gardiner. For the first time, explore their story! Edward Gardiner has just been refused by the lovely young woman he had intended to make his wife. Heartbroken and eager for a diversion, he accepts an invitation from his brother-in-law, Thomas Bennet, to accompany him and his two eldest daughters to the north on family business. Gardiner's pleasure tour is interrupted, however, when his eldest niece falls ill and is unable to travel farther. Stopping over in the scarcely remarkable village of Lambton, the men decide that Bennet must continue on, while Gardiner and the children remain. The only trouble is that Gardiner has not the least idea how he should care for one ailing niece and the other who is ready to drive him to distraction... until he meets with Madeline Fairbanks. What begins as a convenient arrangement blossoms quickly into love, and it seems that all of Derbyshire is ready for some changes.