Clara Rowsley Pride and Prejudice variations
Cover of Lady Catherine’s Wedding Guest: a young lady in a white gown and pale blue spencer, holding a posy of white flowers, and a gentleman in a dark blue coat walk down the aisle of a frosted country church, its door open on a snowy path.

Compliments of the Season. Coming to Kindle at the end of October 2026.

Lady Catherine cannot attend her rector’s wedding. She sends her nephew.

Lady Catherine’s Wedding Guest A Pride and Prejudice Christmas Variation Novella

Read the first chapter

A Kindle ebook. Coming to Kindle at the end of October 2026. More about this book

One thing changed in Jane Austen’s novel, followed honestly, to a happy ending for Darcy and Elizabeth.

What every Clara Rowsley book promises

Austen’s people, as she wrote them.
Elizabeth is as quick, Mr. Darcy as proud and Mr. Collins as tiresome as you remember. The places and the dates are hers, up to the day the story turns aside.
One change, and what follows from it.
A letter sent, a parcel opened, a guest who should have stayed at home. Everything after it has a reason.
Clean and low-angst.
Kisses only, and no oaths. The trouble is real, but nobody is made to suffer for the sake of it.
Each one stands alone.
Read them in any order: each is a complete story with its own happy ending.

Pride and Prejudice Christmas variations

Compliments of the Season

Three novellas for Christmas, each an afternoon’s read, set in the winter of 1811 that the novel itself passes over in a few chapters. Here they are in the order of the season.

The winter, day by day, and where each one turns aside

  1. Cover of What Mr. Bennet Remembered: on a frosted lane a young lady in a sage-green pelisse with a white muff stands at a wooden stile while a gentleman in a long dark coat reads a letter; bare trees and a pale winter sun behind them.

    From St Nicholas to Christmas, 1811

    What Mr. Bennet Remembered

    Mr. Bennet sends Mr. Darcy a letter his father wrote in 1788, and lends him the rest one a day, by Elizabeth.

    Coming to Kindle in November 2026

  2. Cover of With Miss Darcy’s Compliments: in a pale gold drawing room a young lady in a rose-pink gown sits at the pianoforte while a gentleman in a dark coat stands listening; snow falls beyond the tall window.

    Christmas, 1811

    With Miss Darcy’s Compliments

    Miss Darcy sends Elizabeth three songs for Christmas, and by Thursday all Meryton has her brother engaged.

    Coming to Kindle in early November 2026

  3. Cover of Lady Catherine’s Wedding Guest: a young lady in a white gown and pale blue spencer, holding a posy of white flowers, and a gentleman in a dark blue coat walk down the aisle of a frosted country church, its door open on a snowy path.

    Twelfth Night, 1812

    Lady Catherine’s Wedding Guest

    Mr. Darcy is sent to see Mr. Collins married, and Sir William Lucas will not hear of the inn.

    Coming to Kindle at the end of October 2026

Cover of Compliments of the Season: the covers of the three novellas fanned together on a snowy sky that runs from frost blue to blush, with a sprig of holly.

All three in one volume: Compliments of the Season, Volume 1. Coming to Kindle in November 2026.

One winter, three ways it might have gone

In the novel, Mr. Bingley leaves Netherfield the day after the ball, and Elizabeth does not see Mr. Darcy again until he comes into Kent in the week before Easter. These are the places where a novella turns aside.

  1. The ball at Netherfield. Elizabeth dances with Mr. Darcy. Chapter 18

  2. Cover of What Mr. Bennet Remembered: on a frosted lane a young lady in a sage-green pelisse with a white muff stands at a wooden stile while a gentleman in a long dark coat reads a letter; bare trees and a pale winter sun behind them.

    Here, What Mr. Bennet Remembered turns aside

    A packet from Longbourn reaches Mr. Darcy in town: a letter in his late father’s hand that he has never seen, and four dry lines from Mr. Bennet.

    About the book

  3. Cover of With Miss Darcy’s Compliments: in a pale gold drawing room a young lady in a rose-pink gown sits at the pianoforte while a gentleman in a dark coat stands listening; snow falls beyond the tall window.

    Here, With Miss Darcy’s Compliments turns aside

    A small parcel comes to Longbourn at breakfast, with a note in a young lady’s hand, and Mrs. Bennet reads it aloud.

    About the book · Read the first chapter

  4. The Gardiners arrive, “as usual, to spend the Christmas at Longbourn”. Chapter 25

  5. Cover of Lady Catherine’s Wedding Guest: a young lady in a white gown and pale blue spencer, holding a posy of white flowers, and a gentleman in a dark blue coat walk down the aisle of a frosted country church, its door open on a snowy path.

    Here, Lady Catherine’s Wedding Guest turns aside

    A chaise turns in at Lucas Lodge with Mr. Darcy in it. His aunt has sent him to see her rector married.

    About the book · Read the first chapter

  6. At Hunsford Mr. Darcy proposes, and is refused. Chapter 34

The whole winter, day by day

He could have answered that business kept him in London. He had gone so far as to mend a pen.

Mr. Darcy, on the road to Lucas Lodge, in the first chapter of Lady Catherine’s Wedding Guest. Read the chapter

About Clara Rowsley

Clara Rowsley writes Pride and Prejudice variations: novellas that change one thing in Jane Austen’s novel and follow it to a happy ending. She takes her name from Rowsley, the village at the gates of Chatsworth, the house most often taken for Pemberley.

In the new year: Four-and-Twenty Families, variations for the rest of the year.

More about Clara Rowsley and her books