It features beloved characters from Pride and Prejudice so of course I had to read it. I'm glad Anne de Bourgh finally got a book of her own. I cheered for her as she went from sickly, drugged child to independent, free-thinking woman.

Austen fans might remember Anne de Bourgh as the woman Mr. Darcy was believed to be engaged with in the original “Pride and Prejudice,” but the wallflower of a character has far more to offer in Molly Greeley’s latest novel “The Heiress.”

The story begins, quite literally with Anne’s birth where the reader quickly learns that she was a spectacularly fussy child (colic perhaps?) and that the local doctor decided the best form of treatment would be laudanum. This treatment leads Anne to be dosed with the addictive drug throughout her childhood and early adult life, which addles her mind enough that she’s unable to do or actively live much while undergoing her treatment. The first half of the novel is exceedingly slow as readers observe Anne’s bland life and her mother’s insistence that she not do much because she’s ill, an heiress and is already basically married to her cousin Mr. Darcy.

The book only picks up in the second half after Anne reads a letter from an old friend and her marriage prospects to Mr. Darcy have long been dashed by his union with Elizabeth Bennet. Once Anne finds the strength to strike out on her own and cease taking laudanum she’s able to forge her own future.

When Anne finds herself embroiled in a passionate and potentially ruinous affair, she’s faced with finally taking responsibility of her life and taking ownership of the duties her title has granted her.

Greeley gives the forgotten Austen character a new lease on life in her novel and makes the bland character a makeover with her frank and at times poetic observations on life. While the novel does drag for the first half of the book, the revitalized Anne in the second half certainly makes it worth the wait. The rich characterization of Anne is sure to be a treat for Austen fans familiar with her brief tale in “Pride and Prejudice.”

The Heiress follows Anne de Bourgh, who briefly appeared in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as the sickly and quiet woman Mr. Darcy was meant to marry. Although reading (or simply watching an adaptation of) Pride and Prejudice does add to this story, it's not necessary. I haven't read any other novels set in the Pride and Prejudice world but from another perspective, but I appreciated that this one didn't try to mimic the style or tone of the original. Like the original, it is both full of societal commentary and romance, but that's more or less where the similarities end.

Anne was prescribed laudanum as a baby, and continued to rely on the drug for decades. I found the beginning of the novel to be slow, and it took me around 15-20% to fully get into the book, despite the beautiful writing style, partially because it seemed to mimic Anne's laudanum-induced slowness of thought, and the lack of stimulation in her life. Later, the pacing becomes much more brisk, as Anne comes alive and takes charge of her life.

This book does feature a f/f romance. I won't get into details for fear of spoiling major plot elements, but I really enjoyed the major feminist themes, as well as the explorations of sexuality and class. Anne and other supporting characters grappled with the dangers of motherhood (vs. the more distant fatherhood), the need to marry if you don't have an estate/an inheritance of your own, and even the fact that men who are found to be in a relationship with other men are treated much more harshly by the law than women. Although the focus remains on Anne and her personal journey, there are many details and people she encounters that make the world she inhabits seem rich and full of complicated people all trying to navigate it.

This was my first book off of NetGalley! Its incorporation of the original P&P storyline was minimal, which I liked. This is not Pride and Prejudice told from the perspective of Anne de Bourgh - this is her own story. The few details we know about Anne from Austen are delved into here, while also creating much more of Anne than we ever had the opportunity to see. I went in excited for the P&P association and stayed because I had gotten excited about Anne. Also, moving forward, all books based on classical books/characters must include queer characters. This book set a new bar for me.

The Heiress by Molly Greeley is an interesting book with a totally unexpected turn of plot. Lady Anne de Bourgh was born a cranky child. Maybe she had colic or who knows. The local doctor prescribed laudanum, which seemed to be his go-to cure for almost any ailment. The sad news here is that she remained on laudanum for almost thirty years. Her first governess had tried to tell her the damage that was being done, but she didn't hear it until 15 years later when she heard a story about a young boy that died after his mother dosed him with the drug. This spoke to her. She dumped her bottle; got in a carriage with only her maid; and traveled to London and appeared at the door of her cousin John and his wife. The she got the drug out of her system. She was miserable for several days but thankfully the doctor John called recognized the problem and she made it through. Her mother turned up in the middle of it and was turned away. When she was finally free of its effects, she began to love. She ate and ate, started to gain weight, and started to be the social creature she was meant to be.

Anne was a strong character who was at the mercy of both a drug and her mother. Thankfully she had her cousin and some friends. The most interesting thing about her was that she had been betrothed to Fitzwilliam Darcy (Pride and Prejudice). He obviously married elsewhere and she couldn't bring herself to care. She finally got up the gumption to take over her estate and run it. Her mother had been doing the honors since her father had dies, despite the fact she was the heiress. Her life then began to take some seriously odd turns. This was a surprise and I will not spoil it. Different and creative. Done in the style of Jane Austin. Believable within its context. It was an interesting book. I recommend it.

I was invited to read a free ARC of The Heiress by Netgalley. All opinions contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #theheiress

In this offshoot of the Pride and Prejudice, Molly Greeley tells the story of Anne de Bourgh and her sickliness. It’s a bit of a slow build (because this is what Anne’s days are like at the beginning of her life) but when the hook catches, it’s hard to put down. Greeley examines in great depth the crippling nature of laudanum dependency, and how it hides its victims from the world and the world from them. We walk alongside Miss de Bourgh in her groggy day to days that laudanum christens so many years of her life with. Then we see her discover her life outside of the laudanum caricature.

I found myself excitedly rooting for her as she learned who she was truly, how to adapt to society, and figured out for herself what kind of life she wants to carve for herself in a world that was long since hidden from her. In addition to confronting ableism, the novel is a refreshing feminist exaltation of platonic love as capable of holding as much intimacy as the patriarchy dictates should be reserved for romantic relationships. It is also a window into queerness in 19C England and what the experiment of creating space in places that hold none for disabled queer folk is like in a time when gender and class dictate survival - ultimately usually a choice between love and dignity.

I found this to be a well-written book (the character development is 👌🏾) and I’m looking forward to learning what you all think too when you’ve read it!

I'm a sucker for Jane Austen books! I'll give any of them a try but nothing has compare to the beauty that is The Heiress! Molly Greeley gives readers a re-imagined look into the life of the mysterious Anne de Bourgh. As most of us know from Pride and Prejudice, Anne was engaged to Darcy since they were infants. The daughter of his aunt, his mother's sister, he never was close with Anne. Of course, since the book centers around Elizabeth and Darcy we are never given a good look into Anne's life.

First up, Anne de Bourgh is a lesbian!!

Anyway, I've tried previous Pride and Prejudice and Jane Austen retellings but never got into them. This one was so easy to read, and I couldn't stop. The story starts from when Anne is a baby and goes all the way through to her death. The epilogue is her dying and being in what I assume is heaven. As stated previously, the doctor gave Anne laudanum when she was a baby and soon became an addict. Greeley gives us the idea that Anne was probably colicky as a baby and a pretty common treatment doctors gave babies for colic was laudanum, unfortunately.

There is a time when her father takes Anne to Brighton for the sea salt bathing regimen. And it does help. It's the second day when Anne is detoxing that her mother calls a doctor and they prescribe laudanum. She's "better" in her mother's and the doctor's eye, but the problem was never that she was ill, it was the laudanum causing her illness. As a teenager, her governess and, at times companion, Miss Hall tells Anne about her brother who was a laudanum addict. The experiences that Anne has when she doesn't have laudanum is the same that Miss Hall's brother. Yet, at the time Anne doesn't have the power yet to say anything. It's not only her father's death that brings Anne clarity about laudanum. It's a news story about a little boy who died from having too much laudanum. Due to the laudanum, Anne sees visions at night and she sees the boy. That's when she decides to flee to London.

While staying with her Cousin John and his wife Harriet, Anne begins to learn about herself and forge her own path. Not only that but she finds love and passion while there. Harriet's brother, Mr. Waters, is interested in Anne but she doesn't seem that interested in her. I was totally rooting for Anne and Eliza Amherst to be together. Eliza and Julia Amherst are school friends of Harriet. Eliza and Anne form a close friendship and then more. They fall in love. Eliza is a firm feminist. She reads Mary Wollstonecraft and other thinkers of the day. She doesn't want to be married or have children, and she longs to spend her days with Anne. Sadly, that isn't possible for someone like Eliza. She doesn't have Anne's fortune or freedom. So while Anne proposes marriage, Eliza declines. Eliza marries a friend of her fathers, and Anne goes back to Rosings Park, to finally take her place as mistress of the house. Her mother protests, as per usual, but they learn to not get along per se but coexist. It helps that Lady Catherine is sent to the dower house to live by Anne's orders.

Lady Catherine does admit towards the end that what she did was out of love, which I do believe. She didn't want her daughter to suffer and to her eyes, without the laudanum Anne was suffering. At the time, the best advice from doctors was to give babies laudanum. Of course, there is a happy ending for Anne! Eliza's husband dies, of natural causes, and after a few weeks, she immediately heads to Rosings Park, to Anne. They live out their days together, in love and to outsiders as companions.

Greeley gives us a re-imagined look into Anne's life and how it could go on. I'm all for the idea that this is how Anne's story does play out. In my mind, this is canon, especially, the fact that Anne is a lesbian. I'm all for that part. Not only is the story amazing and well-thought out, but Greeley's writing is beautiful and pulls readers into the story. I couldn't help but actually see myself walking the same streets as Anne and seeing the sights and feeling what she felt. I was mesmerized and definitely recommend this not only to those who are Jane Austen fans but those who are fans of family drama and romance. There's something for everyone in this book! As well as lesbians! I'm going to bring that up every time I can.

Loved this book! I really enjoyed reading about a very unknown character from Pride & Prejudice. Thank you, NetGalley

This was a great spin off of one of my favorites Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. I liked that it was all about Anne de Bourgh and finding out more about her and really getting to know her. This was such an interesting take and way to think about it.

I enjoyed the writing and thought this was a great book to read!

I love reading all types of Pride and Prejudice retellings, spin-offs, and adaptations. Most often they feature our beloved Bennets and Darcys, but The Heiress focuses on Anne de Bourgh. For those of you who don’t remember, she is Lady Catherine’s sickly daughter, the one who was supposed to marry Darcy. I have never spent much time thinking about Anne, but after reading this novel, I don’t think I will ever overlook her again!

In The Heiress, the reason Anne is so sickly is that her family has been giving her laudanum (a type of opioid) since she was a baby. The book is Anne’s coming of age, as she breaks free from her overbearing mother, the expectations for her life, and her addiction to the drug that held her hostage for years. I thought this book was a totally fresh spin on Pride and Prejudice, and I was fascinated by this dark twist on Anne de Bourgh’s life. Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for this gifted copy.

The Heiress is a beautiful and engaging tale that brings a new look into Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Molly Greeley has done a brilliant job bringing Anne de Bourgh to life, while staying faithful to the original story. I couldn’t help but find myself fascinated with Anne’s beautiful and dark life.

Greeley kept Anne’s life real as she breathed fresh life into her overlooked character. I couldn’t help but feel for Anne as I watched her grow into a woman. She lived a secluded and horrific childhood filled with loss and no real grasp of reality. I cheered for her when she was able to finally escape her mother’s grasp and flee to her cousin in London. From there, watching Anne grow into a real woman, discover her freedom, sexuality and full awakening of her spirit was a thing of beauty. Seeing Anne deal with her flaws and adversities kept me glued to this book till the last page.

The Heiress was a beautifully written story full of breathtaking and raw/heartbreaking moments. Greeley kept the “Austen” feel to her storyline while creating a unique story that can stand on its own. Any historical fiction fan will absolutely love this novel from the very beginning. I cannot wait to pick up more of Greeley’s novels!

Straddling the line between slumber and a sheltered existence, Anne de Bourgh's fragile world is shattering. To quiet her mother and the doctor's nerves, Anne is prescribed laudanum as a baby to stop her screaming. The amber droplets silence her temper but drift her into a coma-like condition.

When awake, she's portrayed as a porcelain doll and shelved from life's lessons. Living in a perfumed permeance, a gutsy governess challenges Anne to look beyond her gilded cage and embrace her future. Readers will delight in Anne's Austin-inspired chrysalis and Chopin's Awakening.

Thank you to #NetGally and the publisher for the early read in exchange for an honest review. From Kent to bustling London, Molly Greeley's #TheHeiress inspires readers to travel outside their comfort zones and beyond the pandemic's walls.

While taking precautions, we need to keep living to avoid becoming shadows of our former selves. Publishing at a time when we're trapped by our fears and facing an uncertain future, Greeley's novel harnesses the power to achieve our dreams.

In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Miss Anne de Bourgh is known only as the sedate and sickly shadow of her mother, Lady Catherine’s, condescending and loudly opinionated character. The heiress of Rosings Park in Kent, Miss de Bourgh was intended from infancy—as a favorite wish of both her mother and her aunt—to marry her first cousin, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley in Derbyshire, thereby uniting two grand fortunes and estates. But when Mr. Darcy ultimately marries that obstinate, headstrong Miss Elizabeth Bennet instead, what is to become of Miss de Bourgh? This is one of many questions explored in Molly Greeley’s fascinating second Pride and Prejudice variation, The Heiress: The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh.
Anne de Bourgh was a wretchedly inconsolable infant. Her parents and nurse were therefore quite thankful for the medical intervention when the local doctor prescribed a dose of sleep-inducing laudanum and declared that she would always possess a delicate constitution. Consequently, Anne spends her formative years receiving twice-daily doses of her magic drops that keep her in a permanent state of lethargy. “My medicine turned me stone-heavy, a breathing statue, eyelids drawing down despite all my best efforts and thoughts drifting like milkweed fluff.” (118)
Under her mother’s formidable thumb, Anne drifts through her days in a stupor, confined to the house and gardens, wearing only what her mother selects, eating little but what her mother approves and her weak appetite allows, not permitted to dance or sing or play an instrument, and restricted from learning or reading too much. All are convinced that she is far too frail to do much of anything at all but simply exist. “If I had a shell like the snail, I thought, I would tuck myself back inside of it, away from their branding pity. I felt at once all-too-visible in my fine gowns and gaudy bonnets, and ill-defined as the edges of a ghost.” (316)
Anne is merely a detached observer of her own life, her languorous health slowly turning to vivid hallucinations. Despite her governess’s insistence that she could aspire to be so much more than what she has settled for, “if you did not stun yourself so thoroughly with your medicine” (1171), Anne continues to see herself as she has long been trained to. “Useless, I whispered inside my head, little mortified arrows that pierced my softest inner places. Useless, stupid, useless.” (1188)
Years pass by with nothing much to distinguish them from each other, until eventually the only certainties she had—her father running their estate, her expected betrothal to her cousin, and the steady support of her governess—begin to leave her, one by one. “My drops were such solace then, letting me float until at last the passage of time dampened my mother’s disappointment. I awakened to find everything exactly as it had been before, except for the tattered and singed remains of my own future.” (1286) When Anne discovers a long-overlooked letter from her former governess, will she finally have the strength to do what she must to overcome the invisible chains that bind her?
Even as a devoted fan of all things Austenesque, I have never actually read a Pride and Prejudice variation with Anne de Bourgh as the protagonist. It was refreshing to view that world from the perspective of a largely unknown secondary character. I am rarely appreciative of first-person narration, but it proved to be necessary for Anne’s story to come alive. We know the background and characters surrounding her well enough; this was Anne’s chance, as a girl imprisoned for decades in her own body, to finally tell her tale in her own words. Although I certainly pitied Anne for all that she endured, I still felt a bit like a detached observer myself, never quite developing an emotional attachment to her.
This story is told with beautifully descriptive prose that has an almost lyrical flavor at times. As Anne weaves in and out of her drug-induced awareness, the reader floats into the atmospheric depths along with her and witnesses her intense torture when she suffers from her opiate-addicted withdrawals. There were some surprisingly intimate moments that I would grant four out of five tea kettles for steam level, but they were tastefully depicted. The story’s conclusion deserves a special mention for the truly lovely and comforting picture it paints, and I also admire the colorful cover design.
The Heiress: The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh shines a beam of hazy sunlight into the dark shadows where a sheltered, unloved creature has been hiding in oppressive, cold stillness, waiting to be awakened with warmth.
4 out of 5 Regency Stars

To be honest, I did not know much about the book “The Heiress” by Molly Greeley prior to requesting the ARC through #netgalley. I saw this title on several lists of most anticipated historical fiction books for 2021, a genre that I dearly love. When I started reading there was something vaguely familiar about the descriptions of life in the English countryside. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book was based on one of the lesser known characters, Anne de Bourgh, from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Avid Jane Austen fans would have picked up on references to the beloved characters and Pemberly estate much more quickly than I did. This is the story of Anne, cousin of Darcy, and future heiress to the Rosing estate. Admittedly, the first part of the story is slower paced and frustrating. Anne was very sickly as a child and the family doctor foolishly recommended she take daily doses of laudanum, a powerful sedative that kept her mostly lethargic and confined to home. Anne’s strong willed mother was in charge of her care which included a strict regimen to prevent her fragile daughter from getting overstimulated or sick. It was one of Anne’s teachers, Miss Hall, who first suggested that the “treatment” may be preventing her from experiencing life fully. Anne was supposed to marry her cousin, Darcy Fitzwilliam, when she came of age, but alas, he saw her merely as a fragile “doll” and did not love her. Anne’s mother was devastated when Darcy gave his heart to Elizabeth Bennett instead. It was not until Anne was 28 years old that she dared to see what life could be like if she stopped taking her daily drops. In a rare act of defiance, she snuck away to her cousin, Colonel John Fitzwilliam’s house in London where she went through a painful withdrawal from the drug, which ultimately led to her recovery. While her health improved, she was still fragile and unsure about stepping in society. It was her cousin John’s wife, who begrudgingly introduced her to friends and family. One of these first introductions to the spirited Eliza Amherst, would be pivotal in changing the course of Anne’s life. While this book is a tribute to Jane Austen, readers should know that this book is an original and much more brazen in treatments of topics that would be considered taboo in Jane’s day. This book questions the roles that are assigned to women and dares to question whether or not women should be free to pursue life on their own terms. Granted, it helps if women are already independently wealthy. Thank you #netgalley for the ARC. I look forward to a lively discussion when this book is released on January 5, 2021!

4.5 Pride and Prejudice stars

For fans of “Pride and Prejudice” this one will be a big hit! Featuring a side character from that story, this book puts you perfectly in the setting with characters that you root for!

Anne de Bourgh starts life as a very fussy baby and the local doctor prescribes laudanum to help. As you might imagine, it is very easy to get addicted to opium and it seems shocking today that this was frequently given for all sorts of ailments! Anne doesn’t thrive because of this addiction and seems fated to always be a sickly person. Withdrawal and those symptoms weren’t completely understood either.
Fate finally intervenes though, and it was amazing to see Anne emerge and take charge of her life, escaping to her cousin’s house. Her mother seemed to be a terribly controlling woman and I never quite warmed to her. I don’t understand British inheritance rules, but luckily Anne was able to inherit her family estate and that gave her freedom to become her own person rather than be forced to marry.
This newly imagined version of the P&P story was such a fun read with a few sightings of the Darcys and other characters. This was my first read from this author but I see that she has another one that is a P&P retelling.

I had very high hopes for The Heiress by Molly Greeley as I LOVE LOVE LOVE all things Jane Austen. But, I am so bored that I can simply not finish. I am tabling it for now.

I will, however, do a book spotlight in my Bookstagram account. I won't say my opinion but I will share it's release with others. Note, I rather not rate it but Netgalley will not allow me to leave it unrated.

I adore Greeley’s writing style. It is poetic and metaphorical, but in a very grounded way. The metaphors and analogies are straightforward and easy to understand even though the prose is relatively purple. As previously mentioned, this is a character study. The plot is simple and minimal externally. It’s very much an internal struggle within Anne much of the time.

This is a quiet story; there aren’t any wild plot twists. However, it was difficult to read at times, which was very much intentional. Anne has been heavily medicated her whole life and has become dependent on laudanum, an opioid that can have intense side-effects and dangerous withdrawal symptoms. Some of which are described in this book.

I loved Anne’s growth throughout, and how it was never really a linear thing. I felt so emotional watching Anne going from a naïve young girl who was constantly told she couldn’t do things that other children were doing to running away in secret to her favorite cousin’s house in a bid to gain some freedom from her overbearing mother. Watching her make friends and fall in love and grow into the woman she was always capable of becoming was beautiful to read. Also, very quickly, the romance was so cute and I was rooting so hard for them (yes that LGBTQIA+ categorization of this book is for Anne, and I do believe the sapphics and the WLW, specifically, might want to check this one out).

In case you couldn’t tell, I really recommend The Heiress as not only a really great story about a character from P&P, but as an amazing story on its own. 5 huge stars!

CW/TW: drug use and dependence, withdrawal from drugs, contentious mother/daughter relationship, brief mention of infertility, mention of woman dying in childbirth. That is all I can remember right now, but if there are more I will definitely add them.

This was a nice book to start 2021 off with. I’m a big Austen fan so when I heard about this book I was really excited to read it. This is a bit of a spin-off but also a companion book to Pride and Prejudice. While I’m not the biggest historic fiction reader, I love this gothic style and I thought this book fit well into Austen’s world. This book is by HarperCollins, so it’s nice to start the year reading a mainstream book that had a sapphic romance. I love seeing that and I hope I will see a lot more of it in 2021.

This book was an interesting mix of some darkness but also hope. This time period was rough on women so while it’s a little bit hard to read at times, it’s also so rewarding to read about women being strong and taking their agency back. This book also has very interesting family dynamics including a mother who is so sure she is right, that she is so horribly wrong. You can’t help but feel awful for the main character, especially when she is trapped in a drugged state, but this is a story of the journey of her growth and you want to follow Anne on that journey.

This is a slower paced book. The beginning especially feels slow as Anne narrates in her own drugged out state. Anne’s drugged induced physical and mental slowness, ends up decelerating the pace of the book for us readers too. It’s interesting to be in a first person story like that and I was surprised that the pace didn’t bother me much. It does pick up as the book goes on, and those change helps you feel, as an observer, that you truly understand the changes that Anne is going through. I think it was pretty cleverly written in this way. This is a book to be patient with, but I found it to be rewarding.

As I mentioned already, there is a WLW romance. Anne is a very sheltered woman so finding out that she was a lesbian could have been this huge deal for her. I liked that Greeley played this fact down. Anne loved who she loved, and wanted to love who she loved. It was nice to see Anne just be Anne and I liked the sweet romance in the story. This is a relationship of friends to lovers and both the friendship, and later when you could tell it was turning into something more, were enjoyable and sweet to read about.

This is a book I would absolutely recommend to Pride and Prejudice fans. I thought this was a well done companion piece and I’m hopeful Austen fans will agree. It is a slower book that is more about the little things, but I was quite taken with it and enjoyed it from start to finish.

This is an excellent written book about the life of Anne de Bourgh, a character from Pride and Prejudice. It is the story of her life from a baby when she is given laudanum because she is fussy. The country doctor keeps telling her mother that she needs the laudanum as she is growing up.

I just finished The Heiress by Molly Greeley. The author took a minor character, Anne de Bourgh from Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice to create her story. I found it intriguing that the estate of her father, would be left to Anne as her parents did not have a male heir. When Anne was born, she cried all of the time. My guess is that she was colicky. The family doctor, Dr.Grant, prescribed laudanum. It seemed to help. The problem is that her mother and the doctor gave this to her until she was in her twenties. This went on for about 35% of the book. I almost gave up a few times as I felt I kept reading about her taking the medicine and falling to sleep. I really think the point the author was making could have been shortened. I did like the chapter where her father took her to Brighton to,see,if bathing in the waters there would help Anne. The “bathing” descriptions were hysterical.

I enjoyed the second part of the novel when Anne breaks away from her mother’s dominance and goes to London to stay with her Cousin John and his wife. She weans herself from laudanum and explores a new world of London society. A new friend, helps her explore shopping, An introduction balls and society, and much more. Something happens and Anne decides it is time for her to go home and take over managing her estate. I really liked the last part of the book as she grows in confidence in herself. The final chapter is written to perfection. This is a book worth the read....just rework the first section. I look forward to reading Greeley’s work in the future. My thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.