Page 49 of The Bordeaux Book Club
‘But this all looks so expensive,’ Leah had said, wiping her eyes. ‘And it’s ruined!’
‘It’ll be fine; nothing that can’t be cleaned,’ Monica seemed almost nonchalant about it, as if she didn’t much care for the beautiful apartment at all. Leah hoped she wasn’t just a great actor.
Once things were mopped up as much as they could be, and Leah was given a fresh glass of the wine (and a side table to place it on), they tried to resume.
‘So Leah,’ Grace said, clearly trying to distract her and bring her back to the book, ‘you mentioned thatPride and Prejudicewas one of the reasons you moved here. Remind us why?’
Grace was being kind, moving the conversation on. Keeping Leah occupied, she realised.
Leah sniffed and looked around the room. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on her. She took a deep breath. ‘It obviously… Isuppose it was a weird comment, wasn’t it! I realise that a typically English book wouldn’t normally get someone dreaming of France. And it wasn’t France, per se. But I used to fantasise about having loads of space – land, I suppose. They’re always walking and riding and taking turns about the garden – and I used to imagine what it’d be like to have a garden that wasn’t the size of a postage stamp.’ She gave a watery grin. ‘I suppose now I know. And it’s no picnic.’
‘Well, they didn’t actually do anything on the land, did they?’ Grace said. ‘No labouring. Obviously, they had people for that. You needed to have a lot of money to enjoy the land without all the hard work that comes with it.’
‘Yes,’ nodded Leah. ‘And you don’t really see any of their servants, do you? The people who are actually slaving away and making it all possible. The maids and the cooks and the gardeners, they’re sort of invisible in the background. But they must be there.’
‘It’s true,’ Grace said, thoughtfully. ‘It would be nice to read a story re-written from their perspective – what they thought of Darcy, and Elizabeth and, well, all of them.’
‘Someone wrote one a few years back I think,’ said Monica, turning her book over in her hands as if it might contain the pertinent details.
‘I bet they had a few choice words to say about Mrs Bennet,’ said George.
‘Maybe a future pick for the club?’ said Grace, thoughtfully.
They lapsed into silence for a moment.
‘I still think it’s a great love story though,’ Monica said. ‘And I defy any woman to read it without falling in love a little with Darcy.’
‘Really?’ Alfie interjected. ‘Is Darcy any better than Heathcliff?’
There was a collective pause as they all wondered whether Alfie was going to shatter their illusions yet again about another romantic hero.
‘Well, of course he is!’ Grace said, rather defensively. ‘For starters, he’s a gentleman. He rescues Lydia from the scandal with Wickham. He also changes during the text – he shows that he’s capable of being thoughtful and learns from his mistakes.’
‘True,’ Alfie nodded. ‘But still… it’s all on his terms, isn’t it?’
‘Not when he proposed to Elizabeth. And she turned him down.’
Alfie nodded. ‘Yes, that’s true. Must have been a shock to him after a life when everyone probably always just agrees with everything he says.’
‘So maybe he’s not perfect, but at leastPride and Prejudicehas a happier ending thanWuthering Heights,’ Monica said. ‘Elizabeth and Darcy are both alive, for starters.’
‘Setting the bar low,’ quipped George and she grinned at him.
‘I suppose it’s what you want from a marriage that matters,’ she said. ‘I know I complain a bit about Peter being away – but it can be nice sometimes to have a little “me” time. Maybe it’s good for a couple. Maybe once they settle into Pemberley, Darcy will be off doing his own thing, she’ll be the mistress, running everything from behind the scenes. It’s a bit like working together. So they’d have time together, but not be in each other’s pockets.’
‘So basically, his marriage proposal is more of a job offer?’ George said.
‘I’ve had worse jobs,’ Monica found herself saying, before feeling her face get hot. ‘You know what I mean,’ she said.
‘I think it’s hard, after all the adaptations on TV, to really see the story the way Austen intended it any more,’ said Leah. ‘I can’t read the book without seeing Colin Firth.’
‘Yes, he’s the classic Darcy,’ Grace agreed. ‘Brooding and handsome.’
‘And the lake scene!’ Monica interjected. ‘I could watch that for hours!’
‘Oh, me too!’ joked George and they all laughed.
Alfie’s phone rang and he leapt up and disappeared out of the door.
