Welcome Dear Readers, and thanks for checking out my blog today! Soon we we will be having a great number of exciting Victorian ladies to learn about, but while I prepare that content, let's take a peek at MJ Stratton's newest novel, "What Ought to Have Been," Which launches TODAY on Kindle Unlimited!!! I can tell you all, I was fortunate enough to preview an advance copy, and you are all in for a treat! Check out the synopsis and excerpt below!
Synopsis:
Retribution belongs to God, and I am ill-equipped to carry it out in His place.
~Elinor Dashwood
Before leaving Norland forever, Elinor Dashwood forms an attachment to Edward Ferrars. Her tender regard remains constant when the four Dashwood ladies remove to Devonshire, taking up residence at Barton Cottage. Elinor’s hopes for the future are shattered when she unwillingly becomes the confidante of Lucy Steele, learning that Lucy has been betrothed to Edward for four years.
However, Lucy fails to secure Elinor’s vow of secrecy. When Marianne finds Elinor in her misery, the sisters share confidences, leading Marianne to compare Edward’s honorable conduct with that of John Willoughby. Her musings lead to some startling revelations, igniting a spark of defiance within her.
Determined to right the wrongs done to her and her beloved family, Marianne takes matters into her own hands. While Elinor may be ill-equipped to exact God’s retribution, Marianne is not. Armed with determination and resolve, Marianne Dashwood sets out to achieve her aims by any means necessary. But can she complete her journey without losing herself in the process?
Told from both Marianne and Elinor’s points of view, What Ought to Have Been is a Sense and Sensibility variation that ensures all the story’s villains receive their just desserts.
Author Bio:
MJ Stratton is a long-time lover of Jane Austen and her works, having been introduced to Pride and Prejudice by a much-beloved aunt at the age of sixteen. The subsequent discovery of Austenesque fiction sealed her fate. After beta reading and editing for others for nearly a decade, MJ started publishing her own work in 2022. MJ balances being a wife and mother with writing, gardening, sewing, and many other favorite pastimes. She lives with her husband and four children in the small, rural town where she grew up.
Excerpt: The bombshell is dropped by Lucy Steele
Elinor Dashwood walked arm in arm with Miss Lucy Steele, a young lady newly introduced to their Devonshire neighborhood. Miss Lucy and her elder sister, Miss Nancy Steele—also called Anne—were distant relations to Mrs. Jennings, who was the mother-in-law of Sir John Middleton of Barton Park. Sir John had obligingly let Barton Cottage to Mrs. Henry Dashwood and her three daughters—Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret— upon the death of her husband.
They had made the acquaintance of Mr. Edward Ferrars when he had visited his sister, Mrs. Fanny Dashwood, at Norland, the ancestral family estate that Elinor and her family had quitted some months ago. The estate had been inherited by their stepbrother, John Dashwood, to be held in trust for the man's son until he came of age.
Despite assurances of continued residence and support from their brother, true intentions were revealed when he, at his wife’s urging, had strictly adhered to the entailment of the estate. With only nominal financial assistance offered, Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters had been left with no option but to seek a new residence and financial stability elsewhere.
Mrs. Jennings, accompanied by the Misses Steele, had been at Barton Park since the twenty-eighth of November. They had been in company just twice when Elinor learned that the sisters were acquainted with Mr. Edward Ferrars and that their uncle, a Mr. Pratt, had tutored him in his youth.
The revelation that the Steele sisters were known to Mr. Ferrars had come as a surprise, especially when the elder Miss Steele had declared that she and her sister knew Mr. Ferrars very well. Mr. Ferrars, or Edward as Elinor had come to call him in her thoughts for some time, had said nothing of his friends from Plymouth.
Miss Lucy showed a keen interest in becoming acquainted with Elinor, and thus, on the morning following a visit to Barton Park, Elinor graciously accepted the lady’s company, and they meandered slowly on the path that would take them back to Barton Cottage.
“I have been quite eager to know you better,” Miss Lucy said as they walked. “I have heard so much of you that I leaped at the opportunity to come to Barton Park when the invitation was offered.”
“Has Mrs. Jennings written often about us?” Elinor asked curiously.
Miss Lucy laughed lightly. “No, indeed. I have my information from a better source.”
Elinor made ready to ask for clarification but halted when Miss Lucy abruptly changed the subject.
“Can you tell me,” she began slowly, “do you know anything about your brother’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Ferrars?”
Perplexed, Elinor shook her head. “I have not met the lady; I am afraid I know very little.” Why did Miss Lucy wish to know of Mrs. Ferrars?
Miss Lucy sighed dramatically. “Oh, what a shame… I had hoped that I might learn more of her from you. I am confident that I shall be far more intimately connected with that family soon.”
Elinor started. “Do you mean to say that you have an understanding with Mr. Robert Ferrars?”
“No, not the younger brother. I mean Mr. Edward Ferrars.” The lady paused, glancing about before continuing. “Edward and I have been secretly engaged these four years.”
Elinor’s insides went cold, and she struggled to maintain her equanimity as she stared at the woman in shock. Her Edward? Engaged? When? How? Miss Lucy swiftly obliged her by answering the questions roiling within her mind.
“We first met when my uncle, Mr. Pratt, was Edward’s tutor,” she explained. “We are very much in love, you see, and our separation pains us greatly. We can hardly see each other above twice a year. Edward says we must delay our marriage because his mother is sure to disapprove of the match. She has great hopes for him and would not be satisfied with his marrying so far beneath his station.”
Yes, Elinor did know. Had not she and Edward spoken of the same thing as they strolled the gardens at Norland?
“I have a handsome miniature to remember him by,” Miss Steele continued. “He gave it to me some three years ago. When he recently visited us for a fortnight in Longstaple, I presented him with a lovely ring containing a lock of my hair. I had hoped you would be able to tell me more about Mrs. Ferrars, or even your sister-in-law, for I wish desperately to know them so that Edward and I can finally have our happiness.”
Elinor’s dreams were shattered piece by piece as Miss Lucy spoke, and she knew not what to do or say in response to such a disclosure.
“I am sorry I cannot offer you more information,” she said evenly, proud of herself for keeping her tone modulated.
Miss Lucy squeezed her arm. “It is a relief just to speak of it with someone besides Anne,” she said, sniffing a little. She slowed to a stop and pulled open her reticule, withdrawing a letter and presenting it to Elinor.
“I have just received this letter from Edward,” she said. “He is well; these notes and tokens of our affection are all I have to cheer me during our long separations.”
Elinor recognized the writing on the missive from the letter Edward had sent her mother before his visit to Barton Cottage and felt her heart squeeze again. Surely, Miss Lucy was not prevaricating. The evidence that she spoke the truth was there, in her hand, and she could not deny it.
“Is it very painful to know that your future is so uncertain?” Elinor asked, filling the awkward silence that had fallen. The question applied to her own life as well and should she have been required to answer it, she would have replied with a resounding ‘yes.’
“Oh, the future is certain,” Miss Lucy protested. “The timing is not, to be sure, but Edward and I will marry someday.”
Elinor pursed her lips but said nothing.
Miss Lucy released Elinor’s arm and turned to grasp one of her hands. “Miss Dashwood,” she began before a nearby shout interrupted her. She dropped Elinor’s hand and hastily shoved her letter into her reticule.
“Ho, there!” came the voice of Sir John Middleton. He was mounted upon his horse, and Elinor could see the spoils from a bird hunt hanging from his saddle. The shooting that morning must have been a success.
“Miss Dashwood, Miss Lucy, how do you do?” Sir John asked cheerfully, dismounting before them. “Miss Dashwood, I have here a brace of pheasants for your mother. Might I walk alongside you back to Barton Cottage, where I may present them?”
Elinor replied in the affirmative, and Sir John accompanied her and Miss Lucy back to the cottage, chattering the entire way. She was pleased that the gentleman carried the conversation, for her mind was reeling, and she knew not what to think or do with the information that had been pressed upon her. She wished to find a place to think and to grieve, for all her hopes now seemed to be shattered beyond repair.
Upon their arrival at the cottage, Sir John gracefully handed the birds off to the maid and greeted Mrs. Dashwood warmly.
“Come dine with Lady Middleton on Saturday, will you?” he asked Mrs. Dashwood as he made to return to Barton Park. “I have a meeting in Exeter, and if you do not join her, she will have only her mother and the Misses Steele for company.”
“Thank you,” she responded kindly. “Please, tell Lady Middleton to send around an invitation, and we shall be pleased to accept.”
“Capital,” Sir John replied. “Shall I escort you back to Barton Park, Miss Lucy? It is nearing teatime.”
“Oh,” Miss Lucy replied, glancing nervously at Elinor. “Yes, I suppose that would be agreeable, thank you.” Elinor thought the lady seemed reluctant to depart and she wondered if she had intended to say more to her. Elinor did not wish to hear anymore at present.
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