The Golden Apples of the Sun - A Pride and Prejudice Variation________________________________________________________________________________Elizabeth ground her teeth. βMr. Darcy, who are you to dictate? My sister is twenty-one years old: therefore an adult. I will guarantee nothing on her behalf! Of course, you may treat Mr. Bingley as a child if you choose. It would be quite in keeping with the rest of your arrogant behavior. And now, I bid you a very good day, sir.βAngry tears pricked behind her eyelids and she turned to walk away. But Darcy reached out and placed a heavy hand on her arm. βNot so fast, Miss Elizabethβ¦β he began to say, when a shrill voice called out behind them.__________________________________________________________________________________A QUEST FOR A LIFE OF MEANING.Elizabeth Bennet, a young woman possessed of a keen intellect and sharp wit has spent most of her young life in forced seclusion in the small rural village of Meryton. But with the arrival of two wealthy young gentlemen, things look set to change for the Bennet family, especially when Elizabeth encounters and clashes with the arrogant and controlling Fitzwilliam Darcy, never dreaming that he will come to admire her or that the social barriers between them can ever be surmounted.Darcy, despite being born to power and privilege, has always been discontented with his lot β not least because family obligations make marriage to his sickly cousin, Anne, unavoidable. Until he visits the small town of Meryton his attitude is characteristically contemptuous and bitter and it is only when he has to contend with Elizabeth Bennet and her disturbing ability to pinpoint his faults while mocking him at every turn that he is compelled to examine his own behaviour more closely.Slowly, Darcy travels the path to self-knowledge and in the process over comes his cynicism and begins to yearn for a life of purpose, passion and real fulfilment.BUT CAN DARCY HONOUR HIS OBLIGATIONS TO HIS FAMILY AND RESIST HIS DESIRE FOR ELIZABETH AND THE PROMISE SHE HOLDS FOR ENDING HIS LIFE OF LONELINESS?AND CAN ELIZABETH OVERCOME A FAMILY SCANDAL AND HER ABSORPTION IN THE WORLD OF IDEAS, TO SEE PAST DARCYβS ARROGANT EXTERIOR TO THE MAN WHO IS ON A QUEST FOR THE MOST PROFOUND FORM OF LOVE?