Feature Friday: Guest post by Jayne Bamber

How do you do, my dears! Thank you for calling to check out the first post of Feature Friday, one of my new themes here at ATTD. Today's premiere guest blogger is a good friend of mine, fellow JAFF author Jayne Bamber. Her previous works are Happier in Her Friends than Relations and Unexpected Friends and Relations.

Jayne asked if I might be kind enough to help her spread the word about her newest release, a stand-alone story called A Sister's Curse, where the lives of the Bennets and Darcys are entwined in an intriguing new way. It also features a Mr. Collins that is quite different than the one we know from Austen's original story and so many other JAFF books. So, I'm going to hand it over to Jayne now. Enjoy!

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Hello! It’s great to be welcomed at All That They Desire to talk about my latest release, A Sister’s Curse. I have introduced several of the new or “improved” characters on this blog tour, and today I would like to share a little about Nice Guy Collins.

The story opens with the Bennet sisters being orphaned at a young age, and with Mr. Bennet out of the picture, Longbourn is entailed to William Collins’s father. I imagined that, growing up at Longbourn, William Collins would have had a very different early life, and in turn become a much different sort of person. He does retain a little bit of his fawning tendencies around certain other characters at times (though not who you might expect) but overall his gentleman’s education had rendered him more sensible and agreeable.

He is first introduced as an affable friend of Bingleys, and though still very verbose, he makes a more favorable impression on the Bennet sisters with his praise of Longbourn, his generosity in bringing them some personal articles that had belonged to their late parents, and his friendliness with their Uncle Gardiner.

In fact, I would almost call him “woke.” Over the course of his friendship with Sir Edward Gardiner, he reveals that his interests lie more with trade than estate management (cue Grandma’s vapors). He gives Lizzy a trunk full of books, and later a purse gun for self-defense. In fact, he is the first person in the story to identify the villain and try to take action.

The excerpt I would like to share today takes place toward the middle of the book. Mr. Collins accompanies Sir Edward Gardiner and his daughter on a walk, chaperoning a walk with Elizabeth and a suitor Mr. Collins does not approve of for his “fair cousin.”

Ere long, the conversation turned from Elizabeth to matters of business, for Mr. Collins was quite fascinated by the operations of Gardiner Imports, and Sir Edward was delighted at having an audience. It was not the sort of thing that was much talked of amongst his more lofty connections, though he saw no shame at all in engaging in trade, for he had done so very well in it himself, and would not be made to feel ashamed of it. It was, in short, the one part of himself he could be proud of – he was not gifted in matters of romance, and neither had he been an ideal parent or guardian, but he was an excellent businessman. 

That Mr. Collins, a landed gentleman, should take such an eager interest was eminently flattering, as well as small confirmation of what Edward himself had long believed, that future generations may not be so fettered by such rigid social structures, that society would move forward progressively, celebrating self-made men. It would be ten years or more before Sir Edward could expect to have such a discussion with his own young son, and yet Will Collins was such an enthusiastic novice.

“I have never felt myself designed for a pastoral life,” Mr. Collins admitted. “My father was an indolent master, and aside from the establishment of a horse breeding enterprise, there was much potential in Longbourn that he never strived to reach. I understand the previous master, your late brother-in-law, was much the same.”

“Thomas was... lackadaisical at times, yes.”

“I meant no disrespect, of course. I only wished to say that it has been some years since Longbourn was all that it could be, and while I have had a poor example of land management in my late honored father, I find that what I most lack is not the experience, but the interest in what ought to be done. It is not that I do not desire some useful employment, but that perhaps agriculture might not be the best outlet for my aptitude. I had once wished to join the church, which was not clever enough for my mother –  she thought I might become a barrister, had I not inherited so young, but that would have been rather too smart for me.”

Rose listened to Mr. Collins with unusual interest. “And should you have liked to go into trade, like Papa?”

“Why, yes, Miss Rose, I think I should. The world is changing; trade will not hold its stigma forever, you know. Not when it is the backbone of the nation. There is a great deal more in it to interest me, in terms of employing one’s mental abilities. I think I should do very well at it. The entail was broken with my inheritance, you know, and the more time I spend in London, the more I begin to consider selling the place entirely, and taking up some more fulfilling employment here in the city.”

“I do love London,” Rose declared, “though I have scarcely been anywhere else.”

“Scarcely been elsewhere?” Sir Edward laughed. “I am sure you have been to Derbyshire a dozen times, and to some seaside place or other nearly every summer!”

Rose laughed, and Mr. Collins did likewise. “I begin to envy you, Miss Rose. I have never seen the seaside.”

“Why ever not? You are a man, and might do as you like, whenever you like.”

Sir Edward gave his daughter another warning look. “Rose!”

Mr. Collins only laughed again. “Would that it were so! Even while I am at my leisure here in London, I do have some responsibilities, and am often writing to my steward. I would like to travel more, but I think I should like to reside here in London best of all.”

From here the conversation turned to more general remarks on the attractions and diversions of Town. Edward and Rose were both effusive in recommending the bustling city they called home to Mr. Collins, who was determined to discover as much of the city as he could, and to be delighted by all of it. 

"A Sister's Curse" at Amazon.