Elizabeth Aston_32

I suspect the author's name is not really Elizabeth Aston. The author of 'The Exploits and Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy' clearly has a well-developed sense of the absurd and astute commercial judgement. Miss Darcy—imagined daughter of the Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet—flees an abusive husband to Italy where, disguised as a young gentleman, she collides with Titus Manningtree. Really. He's chasing a lost Titian. She finds work as a castrato. It's a romp, but nicely done and I'm not embarrassed by the odd piece of nonsense in my library. This book has the additional glow of a volume well-loved—it carries both the 'Booked Out' stamp of a long-closed local second hand book store, and a sticker from the renal clinic at Prince of Wales Hospital; it now goes back to the Street Library for a new adventure.