Fanny Bennet Takes Charge by Shana Granderson

In this the 9th story in the Take Charge Series, it is Fanny Bennet’s turn to shine. It’s a full length novel of 100k plus words.This is a version of Fanny Bennet never seen before, she is nothing like the caricature of a person she is often portrayed as. She is intelligent, perceptive, and loved and respected by all of her daughters. Fanny is the outwardly blonde, blue eyed, beautiful woman as she is described in many works. The difference is she is as beautiful, if not more so, on the inside as she is on the outside.As a young girl Fanny takes much interest in her Uncle Gabriel Gardiner’s work. He is the only brother of her father. The uncle teaches both Fanny and her brother Edward all about his work and how and why he does what he does. Fanny has a natural aptitude for the work.Fanny’s mother, Lydia Gardiner, is not at all pleased her daughter is being immersed in the world of men. She pins all of her matrimonial hopes on her youngest daughter who is the pretty one (because she looks like her mother) while not caring who her middle child, Hattie, marries. Because Hattie marries Frank Philips, Mr. Gardiner’s head clerk, Lydia is determined her youngest will marry a gentleman.Enter Thomas Bennet. He is the second son of Henry and Elizabeth Bennet. Henry the younger is the heir, and there is a daughter Felicity who is the youngest of the three Bennet children.Thomas is reasonably intelligent, but hates to exert himself, even in his studies, barely graduating from Oxford. Thereafter he leeches off his father, without ambition to select a profession. His life changes radically when the two Henrys die in a suspicious carriage accident. Thomas had been supposed to join his father and brother on the business trip to London, but had cried off not wanting to be bothered to stir himself from Longbourn, hence he becomes the reluctant master of the estate.Fanny becomes Bennet’s unwilling bride. The story reveals why she marries him against her will and what her, and her family’s lives are like with all the ups and downs. As in canon, she bears five daughters, and no son, in the order we expect.Netherfield Park is leased to Bingley who takes up residence in October of 1810, and the party with him is the same as in canon, that is where most of the similarities stop.How does a very different Fanny affect her daughters? What of Bennet and his role in their lives? Does Darcy put his foot in his mouth at the assembly and if so, what are the repercussions?These and many other questions will be answered in this tale.