Author's Note (10/19/22)

I added this as an endnote to Childhood Impressions but wanted to post here as well. I feel that I ought to provide some sort of explanation for an absence of nearly eight years. (Truly Wentworthian in scale, perhaps I have been away at sea attempting to prove myself.)

I completed Childhood Impressions in middle school and began Mr. Bennet's Daughter as a high school freshman, as you can doubtless tell by the myriad spelling, grammar & vocabulary mistakes. I am now a (jaded) thirty-somethingish lawyer who is actively trying to leave the profession – a role that so many American humanities majors are conscripted into (for reasons that are not worth getting into here) and subsequently embittered by. See, e.g., Sonny Curtis, The Crickets, "I Fought the Law" (1958) ("I fought the law and the law won."); see also The Smiths, "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get (1994) ("I bear more grudges than lonely high court judges.").

Having recently stepped back from it all, I rediscovered Jane Austen fanfiction, which so sustained me in my younger & more vulnerable years. (One of my favorite comments to Mr. Bennet's Daughter is from a guest who said in a postscript, "One day, you might be old enough to write fan fiction again!" How prescient this was.). More to come on this.

All of that is to say, I very much love (and am highly motivated by) comments, so please do drop me a line or message me. Rediscovering the comments and messages is why I decided to complete Mr. Bennet's Daughter so many odd years later. Publishing Chapter 40 was my attempt to see if there was still any interest. Please let me know. "[P]ick up the Parker Pen I gave you. Write me. Write."

To any old readers who happen upon this, you must, as always, allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.

To any new readers, thank you so much for reading this. I hope you enjoy.

Much love always,

Lady Sue