From Tolerable to Tempting: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

What would happen, one wonders, if Mr. Bennet were to die, leaving Lizzie evicted from Longbourn? What if this happens after she has so forcefully rejected Mr. Darcy? What if Mr. Collins proves insufferable (no surprise!) and Lizzie is forced to earn her keep? Will her path cross with Darcy’s? Unlikely, but not impossible…. Can Darcy ever be absolved of his wicked remark “She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me…?” What of Anne De Bourgh? What luminously cunning scheme is contrived to thwart Lady Catherine? Does Wickham’s insidious charm still have consequences? For whom? When does an astonished Lizzy discover that the last man on earth she could ever be prevailed upon to marry is actually—quite sinfully—tempting?