Collins Takes Charge
Author: Shana Granderson
Genre(s): Romance | Historical
Total pages: 96
*** This is the 13th book in the ‘Take Charge’ series. *** For Kindle and KU readers, the 2nd Take Charge story, ‘Lady Catherine Takes Charge’ is included as a free bonus after the end of the new tale.*** Please Note: This is a full length novel of more than 125,000 words***
In this tale there are a few things which ‘flip the script’ to the way I usually write William Collins and his family.
The main differences are:
The Collins family are landed gentry
There are two Collins sons
They are well off and do not need Longbourn
The break between the families is caused by the Bennets
It is well known to the Collinses that there are five Bennet daughters and that Fanny Bennet cannot bear any more children. Once it is certain a Collins will be the next master of Longbourn, when the older brother reaches his majority, the father and son remove themselves from the line of succession in favour of William Collins. The main reason is that William Collins’s older brother is the heir to the family estate and has no interest in managing an estate in another county.
Not wanting to rely on something that may be many years in the future, William Collins studies at a seminary after graduating from Oxford. Once he has been ordained and taken full orders, his bishop tells William that he is to apply for a living in Hunsford. He explains that there are some peculiarities with the patroness and tells his protégé how to appeal to her.
Lady Catherine appoints William Collins and soon finds out he is not the sycophant she expected. It does not take long before he has a profound effect on the lives of those in the Hunsford parish and beyond.
He writes to Thomas Bennet asking to come visit, but makes the letter appealing to Bennet as William Collins’s father has explained what kind of man the master of Longbourn is. He arrives in Hertfordshire around the same time he does in canon, but that is the only similarity.
William’s arrival, the residents of Netherfield Park, the militia being in Meryton, and a certain wastrel joining the militia bring all of the characters together. Some events we are all familiar with in Pride and Prejudice occur, and that is when William Collins decides that he has to take charge. As you read you’ll see how thanks to William Collins’s intervention, there are many changes.
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