This is the third of the “Diary” books that I have read. My favorite was Mr Knightly’s Diary.
Colonel Brandon’s Diary takes us into the Point of View of one of my favorite Austen heros, though I think that I like him as much as I do because of the favorable representations of his character in recent Sense and Sensibility movies. In this book, Ms. Grange goes back into Colonel Brandon’s history to his first love, his father’s ward, Eliza. Amanda Grange fills in ‘what might have been’ with enough insight for us to deveop an understanding of the colonel’s psyche. Staying close enough to Jane Austen’s original story to keep most Janeites happy, the author adds some satisfying final scenes, as one of my very few criticisms of Miss Austen is that her books leave us wanting more. No, not a criticism, really, but a longing to find out what happens after the last word. (As we know, Jane Austen wrote no sequels.) I appreciated how well Grange had Brandon care for his ward Eliza Williams and her baby.
I’m rating Colonel Brandon’s Diary an 8.5 out of 10 just in comparison to Mr. Knightly’s Diary and Mr. Brandon’s Diary, which I liked better.
