Mr. Darcy's Daughters is a 2003 novel by the English author Elizabeth Aston, published by Simon & Schuster in the United States.
It features the five daughters of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet – aged 21 to 16 – as they navigate London society in the absence of their parents, who have embarked on a diplomatic post to Constantinople.
Aged 21 to 16, the sisters are prim and proper Letitia, witty Camilla, frivolous twins Georgina and Isabelle, and musical prodigy Alethea.
Leigh flees the country for Italy due to laws banning sodomy, while negative rumours spread about Camilla's too obvious attachment to the man.
Aston felt that Austen's novels were "as fresh today as when they were written," and compared the novelist's genius with Mozart for "speak[ing] to the soul while it enchants and delights.
[3] Her stories instead feature newly invented characters related to those seen in Austen's works, such as members of the Darcy, Bingley, and Collins families.
Its success encouraged the publisher to release other novels adapted from Austen's stories, including Pamela Aidan's Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series.
[6] In a review of the novel, Publishers Weekly opines that it "reads more like a beach book for historical fiction fans than a literary homage to Austen's masterpiece," and feels the daughters were predictably written.
[1] The reviewer also critiques Aston for having little success at imitating Austen's style, believing the novel's prose to be "stilted and anachronistic".