Book Review & Giveaway: Wickham’s Diary by Amanda Grange
Wickham’s Diary by Amanda Grange. © 2011 Sourcebooks Landmark. ISBN 9781402251863. Trade Paperback. Historical Fiction. 208 pages. Source: ARC furnished by the publishers.
Review: Deep down I have never felt like Wickham was simply a “bad guy”. That’s too black and white for someone such as me who loves a world full of various shades of grey. My feelings about Wickham were amplified (and perhaps even echoed) by the BBC series Lost in Austen which showed us a completely different side of Wickham, painting him not as the selfish rogue but as a man who took on a bad reputation in order to spare the loss of Georgiana Darcy’s repute.
Sure, he is a charmer and fancies being surrounded by the good things in life, but I would hardly say that makes one a bad guy. I say it simply makes him a bachelor and unwise (and no one, I don’t care how irresponsible, deserves to be married to Lydia Bennett). So I was positively thrilled when I saw an ad for Wickham’s Diary in the back of A Darcy Christmas late last year. Finally, I thought, Wickham gets his say! Unfortunately, this turned out to be something different than I had hoped.
Wickham’s Diary does show us that Wickham was not always a reckless person. He was shaped into heiress hunting by his mother–who while loving her husband is also displeased with her station in life and thus urges her son to aim high–and was dragged into debauchery by his friends at Cambridge, despite Darcy’s attempts at saving him. I feel that maybe Ms. Grange was aiming to have us sympathize for the devil and the book does touch on that. It shows us that Wickham had loving parents, was favored by Mr. Darcy and had a promising future at Pemberley but through the death of his parents, influences at school and Darcy turning his back on him, he became a different man: colder, conniving, and bitter.
However I wanted more and at 208 pages, I felt a little let down. I enjoyed what I read, definitely, but I just wish it had gone deeper into Wickham’s mind. I think of Wickham as a bit of a Byronic hero and I wanted to see more of that. More of his wounds. More of a tortured soul with copious layers that help explain who he is and why he is that way. I also sort of wanted him redeemed in a way by us seeing another side to him and his actions (sort of like what Lost in Austen delivered), but alas. A good read either way though. 3/5.
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Giveaway
I’m giving away my ARC copy of Wickham’s Diary to one lucky US resident! The subtitle to this book is “Jane Austen’s Quintessential Bad Boy Has His Say”, so to enter just reply below with your email and let me know who your quintessential bad boy is and why. Contest ends April 30th and you must be a follower (via Google, Twitter, Facebook or GoodReads — be sure to let me know which though) to be eligible.
