Until This Moment

A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice

By: Kate Westwood

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

‘Good God, Mary, stop this endless moralizing, and tell me what you truly feel!’

Five years have passed, and the families of Bennet, Bingley and Darcy have undergone some changes. Mr Bennet has died, and left Mrs Bennet at the mercy of the ingratiating and self-important Mr Collins, who has taken up residence at Longbourn. But that is not all that has changed, nor all that will.Mary Bennet has been overlooked for many years—by her father, by her sisters, and by the world in general. Increasingly aware that she is considered a laughing-stock, and depending upon her meagre accomplishments to garner the praise that she craves, she hides behind an increasing piety, devoting herself to a lonely inner life ever since the death of her father. Having repelled the sisters from whom she might have sought solace, she exists on empty platitudes and tenuous familial relationships. But when she meets someone who challenges her moral piety, she is forced to discover the true Mary Bennet who hides behind the façade she has created to protect her heart. In facing herself and who she has become, Mary must question her dearly-held morals and beliefs, and must confront her fears and judge if her life of pious devotion has brought her true happiness.

Kitty Bennet is also searching for herself. Her father’s death has seen she and her mother obliged to depend upon the kindness of relatives to give them a home. But Kitty, now finding a new autonomy in the world, resents being kept at home to look after an aging mother. Having finally been released from bondage to an over-controlling father, Kitty now yearns to be free from Meryton and make her own way in life. She accepts her sister Elizabeth’s invitation to come to Pemberley for the summer, and meets there a gentleman whom she believes is the answer to her desire for freedom. When things do not go as planned, Kitty is forced to realize that freedom comes at a price. Kitty’s blooming into a woman in her own right brings with it new realizations, but can she overcome her past in order to create a new future?

Both Kitty and Mary Bennet are brought by the trials of life to a better knowledge of themselves and each other, and perhaps most importantly, are taught where true and lasting happiness lies--and for two sisters so different, it is perhaps surprising that each comes to the same conclusion as to the source of happiness.

‘Until This Moment,’ contains all the beloved cast of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, appearing again to further delight us, but it is primarily focused on the two unmarried sisters, Mary and Kitty Bennet --their stories told, I hope, just as Austen would have approved them.