Now, I must admit I never specifically had any particular interest in Anne DeBourgh, the sickly daughter of the exalted Lady Catherine. This book changed that for me in the very best of ways. She learns to stand on her own feet, to overcome addiction and the step beyond her mother’s fearsome shadow to become a person worth knowing.

I first read Pride and Prejudice in eight grade, as a somewhat pretentious preteen. I fell in love. Some little while later I fell in love again, this time with Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight (in that deeply affirming way that only a 14 year-old truly can) Now, as mildly embarrassing as that is in retrospect, I really do owe Twilight for a lot of good things in my life. One of those things was that it was my gateway into reading fanfiction (yes, I jumped in at one of the cringiest possible points in all of fandom, but there it is.) Anyways, that rather long digression does actually lead to a point. I fell in love a third time, this time with fan works. Now eventually my ill-conceived infatuation with Twilight eventually faded, but the other two loves did not. I haunted Pride and Prejudice fanfiction sites like my life depended on it. A Happy Assembly, The Meryton Reading Room, and DWG kept me company through done of the toughest parts of my early teenage years. When the Hyacinth Gardens site breathed its last, I felt like I’d lost a friend. It’s been quite a few years since that particular hyper fixation has passed away, but I will forever and always have a place in my heart for a well told Pride and Prejudice variation.

After reading some fabulous Jane Austen retellings lately, I needed to pick this one up about poor and misunderstood Anne De Bourgh, the fabulously wealthy but constantly sickly daughter of Catherine De Bourgh, Elizabeth Bennet's nemesis in Pride and Prejudice. Greeley has done a beautiful job describing the effects of laudanum addiction in Regency England's upper elites. This is not a weak and sickly Anne--this is Anne de Bourgh how she should have been. I loved reading Anne's awakening and journey toward wholeness and independence as a wealthy woman in her own right, with no need of a husband. Her beautiful descriptions and I'd love to read more Austen era side characters who get their day in the sun, yes please!

3.5 stars. I'll admit, I'm not a huge fan of Austen, but I enjoyed this novel about a minor character from Pride and Prejudice. The book managed to touch on "modern" concepts like opiate addiction, Munchausen's by Proxy and homophobia.

"As a fussy baby, Anne de Bourgh’s doctor prescribed laudanum to quiet her, and now the young woman must take the opium-heavy tincture every day. Growing up sheltered and confined, removed from sunshine and fresh air, the pale and overly slender Anne grew up with few companions except her cousins, including Fitzwilliam Darcy. Throughout their childhoods, it was understood that Darcy and Anne would marry and combine their vast estates of Pemberley and Rosings. But Darcy does not love Anne or want her.

After her father dies unexpectedly, leaving her his vast fortune, Anne has a moment of clarity: what if her life of fragility and illness isn’t truly real? What if she could free herself from the medicine that clouds her sharp mind and leaves her body weak and lethargic? Might there be a better life without the medicine she has been told she cannot live without?"

Anne's character development was a joy to behold. The final chapter was gorgeous, both in content and prose.

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Heiress is the story of Anne de Bourgh, a minor character from Pride and Prejudice. Anne is sickly as an infant and is dosed with laudenum from infancy until she is 29 at the instructions of her domineering mother Catherine De Bourgh, When she is 29 she realizes she is addicted andfights to conquer this addiction . For a large part of the book she is a spectral character removed from life because of her medicated state. When she frees herself of the effects of laudinum she becomes a more interesting character, but I did not find her to be very sympathetic or likable.

The Heiress is just a lovely, lovely book that focuses on a very minor character from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Lest you be concerned that Greeley does Austen a disservice let me banish that notion right off the bat. The first advantage this story has is no sense of obligation to retell the a story of a character already done well enough in Austen's original. She also tells such a rich, brilliantly imagined story about Anne, a woman with advantages unknown to most women of her time, if only she can get past the iron will of her mother and the grasp laudanum has on her mind. Once she does Greeley manages the transition perfectly, allowing Anne's confidence to slowly and naturally build to be admired and respected. The character development is also on point, allowing the reader to love or hate at will but always with a subtle reminder that there may be more than initially meets the eye. Fantastically well done.

Unfortunately, I was just not drawn into this book. I've been into books that keep me turning the pages, and this was just not it. I gave up at about 20%. Life is too short to read books that put us to sleep.

The writing was dry and too descriptive to create any sort of interesting plot.

The Heiress is a beautiful, engaging tale that brings a fresh take to a world that is often revisited—that of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Molly Greeley breathes new life into an overlooked character and gives her a rich, fulfilling existence, in addition to some romance. This story centers around Anne de Bourgh, Darcy's cousin who was intended for him to marry (at least according to Lady Catherine de Bourgh).

The novel opens with a reference to the only thing we knew about Anne, that her health is delicate: "I was not always small and sickly." She was a colicky baby which resulted in her being given drops of laudanum occasionally. Over the years, it became her routine-- drops every day, numbing her life as she listlessly moved through her days. Until one day, when she's almost 30 years old, Anne is inspired to take a second look at her circumstances and break free from her drugged existence to take charge of her own life.

I thoroughly enjoyed exploring Anne's journey and highly recommend this book.

When there's so much heavy reading from many of the new books, "The Heiress" was a delightful change with lots of smiles, Not too many books are written from birth to death as there's so much content in one's life. But the book does it without overwhelming the reader and makes it feel like an extension of Pride and Prejudice which would be pleasing to Jane Austen. Anne deBourgh is the only child and the heir of her father's estate: Rosings Park. She is told from her young age that she will marry Mr. Darcy and the couple with their two estates will be very wealthy. Yet, the book takes you through twists and turns with Anne's health, love and family relationships which makes you want to keep turning the pages.

The end leaves you thinking of how times have changed for independent women and how Anne deBourgh used her wealth and values to help educate the children at Rosings Park. Well done! I think this would ideal for bookclubs as there's plenty of discussion items.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this wonderful book.

During the first part of the book, I almost didn't finish. I felt like I was also on laudunam. It was slow and whiny. But maybe that was the author's intent. For the second part, the character Anne was a bit more likable. But then the author lost me when her relationship with Eliza developed. The third, I was skimming the words to finish this book. Sorry, didn't like it not will I recommend it

Based on the classic Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen this novel centers on one of the lesser characters of P&P, Anne De Bourgh that gives a voice and depth to her character.
Born heiress to Rosings Park, Anne was always considered a sickly child, dominated by her fiercely outspoken mother Catherine, she is regularly dosed with laudanum to keep from overtaxing her delicate nature never able to play with her cousins much less converse with them. As Anne begins to grow up she knows she will one day marry her cousin Mr. Darcy of Pemberly, as was arranged by her mother and aunt, thus uniting two rich families and their estates. Constantly forbidden to venture or voice her own desires Anne is living in a constant stupor of unconsciousness until one day when left alone by her mother decides to forgo the laudanum, disobey and travel to London to visit her cousin and his wife. Away from her mother Anne begins to experience the heightened desires of normal life, to laugh, to feel the air, to smell the flowers and even to experience her first love. This was a well written book exploring the depth and feeling of Anne and all her first experiences, leading her to finally stand on her own and take her place in the world and against her mother. A fantastic backstory to a beloved classic.

Thank you very much to author Molly Greeley and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“The Heiress” is a novel focusing on the life of Anne de Bourgh, a minor character in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” The book is based on the premise that the vague illness suffered by Anne in “Pride and Prejudice” was an addiction to laudanum, which is forced on her by her mother starting in infancy to calm her screaming and crying and continuing through her young adulthood. (The title refers to the fact that Anne de Bourgh was an heiress to her father’s estates as it did not have an entail, which would have required it to pass to a male heir).

The book is composed of beautiful prose that deftly describes the time period in which it is set, bringing both the Kentish countryside and early 19th Century London to life. The author expertly portrays Anne’s feelings of lethargy and the hallucinations brought on by the heavy doses of laudanum and equally well describes Anne’s struggles to withdraw from her addiction once she escapes to her cousin John’s home in London.

What ensues is a story that depicts not only how Anne frees herself from the bonds of the drug but also from the shackles imposed on women in general by the mores of her time. In other words, the novel is as much about Anne’s mental and physical imprisonment by and release from the effects of laudanum as it is a reflection of the emotional and physical constraints suffered by women in that time period. This book is worthy of being considered literary fiction for its beautiful prose as well as for its expert handling of the personal and societal pressures of early 19th Century women.

THE HEIRESS climbs inside Pride and Prejudice the way you slip between the sheets of your own bed, made up with entirely new sheets. This brilliant, compact novel takes as its subject the enigmatic Anne de Bourgh, best known as the cousin Darcy was supposed to marry before Elizabeth Bennet stepped onto the scene. Greeley imagines Anne as an accidental -- or rather, incidental -- laudanum addict, whose treatment with that "remedy" since infancy left her frail and mostly catatonic as she aged. THE HEIRESS follows Anne on a tumultuous journey of self-discovery and becoming that begins with the end of her addiction.

Greeley's writing is deft and authentic, nodding to source material without relying on what readers think they know about Anne's life at Rosings Park. There's a touch of the gothic here, too, as Anne's connection to her land -- hers indeed, since Rosings Park is not entailed -- and the house itself, becomes a critical site of identity-production. Though Anne enjoys somewhat unprecedented independence due to her inheritance, Greeley never loses sight of the way Georgian society shaped, stymied, defined, and limited most women -- or how they flourished in private revolutions despite this.

Readers of THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO, THE LADY'S GUIDE TO CELESTIAL MECHANICS, and of course, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, will find THE HEIRESS a triumph.

I am always concerned when I read books that use a character or setting from a famous and beloved author. however this book does a great job exploring a minor character without stealing from the original novel or relying to heavily on the plot that Jane Austen developed. This is by no means a sequel. It is a stand-alone novel in it's own right. Greeley does a great job of developing Austen's most minor characters and creating brand new characters of her own.

"The Heiress" by Molly Greeley is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, but with a twist: it focuses on the side character Anne de Bourgh who was betrothed to, and then not to, the ever-so-famous Mr. Darcy.

While the premise is sound and the writing is certainly beautiful, all I can say is "oof." This novel is a heavy read, starting out with Anne's childhood full of abuse (or is it neglect? It's so hard to tell when it's a little bit of both). As a reader, I was waiting for the pivotal moment where anyone, Anne included, would do something - and that moment of relief comes extremely late, long past scene after scene of Anne being Munchhausen-by-proxied by her family, friends, and anyone who could possibly offer her support.

While relief comes late, it does come, and readers who pull through will be rewarded; Molly Greeley's writing, scene painting, and characters are gorgeous throughout the novel, but her talents especially shine when we're past the laudanum-induced drug montage. Readers beware, but if they don't mind the beginning of the novel, they will enjoy the Austen-esque writing and the focus on a more fleshed out side character who finally has a redemption arc.

"An extraordinary tale of one woman’s liberation, The Heiress reveals both the darkness and light in Austen’s world, with wit, sensuality, and a deeply compassionate understanding of the human heart."

This is a historical fiction novel based on Pride & Prejudice. Unlike Pride & Prejudice, I adored this book! I thought it was perfectly detailed so as to fully flesh out the characters and create a rich atmosphere. I loved and related to the protagonist's way of interacting with those around her, once she had overcome her struggle with laudanum. The romance between the two women was beautiful and full of passion. This is a novel that I am sure I will be reading again and again.

I’m finding it difficult to put into words how much I enjoyed this book. I read it in one day, staying up late to finish it because I didn’t want to stop. The writing is lovely, often poetic which is in keeping with the characterization of Anne. The author does a good job of evoking Austen’s writing without going full 19th century. The characters are well developed and feel true to the originals, without interfering with what the author does with them.

Time for a less critical effusion: THE GAY FEELINGS. Oh the gay feelings are so *good* in this book, I almost couldn’t handle it. The end of the book had me weeping uncontrollably but in a good way that I enjoyed.

Highly recommend to those who love Austen, want more of the de Bourghs, and who love gay romance.

I love Jane Austen retellings and I was excited for this one...but sadly I could find very little of Austen in this book. The characters were just drastically different than Jane Austen created...and the story to me was just depressing....wish I had not read it...

I have always loved Pride and Prejudice. And this love means I always approach new retellings or adaptions with equal parts excitement and trepidation. From the first chapter, I was taken in by Molly Creeley’s revitalization of Anne de Bourgh, which positions her story in a much darker way than others have before. It’s a fascinating and harrowing tale of the evolution of medicine and “women’s health,” set against the backdrop of Austen’s familiar story.

And not to give anything away, but the romance of the second half was just delightful!!

Thank you to Net Galley and HarperCollins for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book took me on a rollercoaster of emotions from the beginning. I am so glad we have come so far with modern medicine in how we treat babies. I loved pride and prejudice so coming back to that world was wonderful, and seeing it from different peoples perspective was wonderful. That time period was hard for women and children both were seen as little more than a means to an end. This was a very good book and I would recommend it to anyone that loves Downton Abby, Pride and prejudice and others in that time frame or anyone that just loves a good book

A nice title for die-hard Austen fans. An incredibly interesting idea that had a lot of potential, but personally I felt it fell flat. Still, true Pride/Prejudice fans will rejoice in this "retelling" or revisiting of characters they know and love.