PRIIDE' PREJUDICE
by
Misty Dawn Pulspher
Pride’s Prejudice is
debuting author, Misty Dawn Pulsipher’s, mature, contemporary treatment of Miss
Jane Austen’s beloved coming of age novel about class distinctions and false
assumptions. While many authors are attempting Austen adaptations, particularly
of Pride and Prejudice, Ms. Pulsipher
has a rich writing style and the honest courage worthy of such an effort.
College coed, Beth Pride, and her roommate Jenna, meet two
wealthy businessmen at a college charity auction. Lighthearted Les Bradford
bids on Jenna and sweeps her off her feet, but William Darcy’s mind is
preoccupied with family problems, and aside from being roped into attending
this charity function, the only thing he’s less interested in is paying to
dance with a college coed. Enter Beth, the shanghaied auction “item” and last
coed left standing. William bids on Beth as an act of mercy, which he
thoughtlessly reveals to her, wounding Beth’s pride. In retaliation, she fires
off a cutting reply, and the unhealthy dynamic between Beth and William, and
their best friends, Jenna and Les, is set early on.
Pride’s Prejudice
is a romantic pleasure fest. Technically, Pulsipher’s dialogues are crisp and
believable, and her economical use of words moves the story along, while
painting clear settings and building her characters into rich satisfying friends
you care deeply about. Pulsipher doesn’t tell us a great story. She paints one
for us, using beautiful lines like these:
The house fell behind
them like a sulky child left standing in the road.
. . .it was clear to
Beth. The connections we share in this life are fragile—wispy spider webs,
easily swept aside with the crass bristles of circumstance.
But there’s so much more here.
It is no easy task to adapt Austen-era situations to our day while still remaining relevant, clean, and
honest. Pulsipher’s writing sizzles with romantic tension and pleasure while
remaining a clean read that doesn’t insult a thinking woman’s sensibilities,
such as these passages:
A sick feeling laces
through her insides like a parasite. It takes up residence in the dark recesses
of her heart and mind. Could he have possibly done this to her? . . .The glimmering castle of her girlhood
hopes burns down, leaving a heap of smoldering ash in its place.
Liquid fire saturated
her body, incinerating any trace of coherent thought. . . Time seemed to ebb, as if the earth had
slowed its rotation. As if they were in another dimension. . . When her fingertips grazed the skin of his
waist at the sides, he pulled her in tighter for an instant, pressing his palms
into the small of her back. Then he froze. Somewhere, perhaps in that other
dimension, an invisible switch had been thrown.
Pride’s Prejudice
was self-published by Ms. Pulsipher, and admittedly, it contains a few more
editing and formatting errors than most commercially-published novels, but only a few, and stylistically,
the characters’ occasional internal conversations distract from the power of
the well-crafted dialogue, but no worries. The quality of the author’s writing
easily triumphs over these minor distractions. The Prologue nagged at me
through the first half of the book, but set it aside. Pulsipher ties it in
beautifully at the end.
Pride’s Prejudice
nearly caused some marital discord in my own home. I seriously stole away to read this book every chance I got. It's that good. In fact, I'll be nominating "Pride's Prejudice" for a 2014 Whitney Award. As I said, it’s that good.
(Better yet, Ms. Pulspher is giving the ebook away for free until July 30th. Here's the link. Grab a free copy.)
(Better yet, Ms. Pulspher is giving the ebook away for free until July 30th. Here's the link. Grab a free copy.)