The Darcy Variations

2017 marks the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's passing and the International Austen Association is celebrating in a BIG way:  five of the existing actors who portrayed Fitzwilliam Darcy over the years are attending the convention in London and five Elizabeth Bennets are chosen to partner the Darcys based on an essay competition.   Kate Malone of the USA is one of the winners, but at forty-three, Kate is a widow, a grandmother and spends most of her time running around after little people.  How the heck is she supposed to play Elizabeth Bennet, especially as her Darcy - Anthony Slade - is handsome as sin and makes her weak at the knees simply watching him on her coveted DVD.

Anthony Slade's acting career had taken a nose dive years earlier after a sleazy scandal, but now he's returned to England after years of self-imposed exile.  He's got unfinished business to tend to with his ex-wife, a career he's hoping he can rebuild and a bone to pick with Terence Burke, who Slade suspects set up that scandal that nearly destroyed him.  And who the hell is Kate Malone anyway? 

Sparks fly when Kate and Slade first meet at the convention, but like the original Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy, time works its miracles and passions build to take hold of two somewhat reluctant hearts.  The question is can Kate reconcile the real man with the film version of Darcy, the make-believe versus the tangible flesh-and-blood man?  And can love survive beyond the fictional world of Pride and Prejudice?