The Girl From Summer Hill (Summer Hill 1)

Silently, Tate started to read it, but couldn’t seem to do so. He handed it to Casey.

It was a review of last night’s play, and it was from The New York Times. She began to read aloud.

My editor sent me to some small town no one has ever heard of because her favorite actor, heartthrob Tate Landers, was in a local play. Pride and Prejudice, no less. My first thought was that being Darcy onscreen wasn’t enough for him? He had to repeat it in a live performance? I complained incessantly for two days—ask my wife. Her reply was, “If I can carry your kid—” Etc. So I went.

But I’m very glad I did. What I saw was a relatively politically correct version of Pride and Prejudice.

I know I’m of the proverbial one percent, but Jane Austen’s book always annoyed me. A man runs off with a half-grown child and he ends up richer for it and she’s happy. Today he’d end up in handcuffs. And that’s the way this was played. Devlin Haines, of the late, unlamented Death Point, even came onstage for final bows wearing cuffs. Perfect.

But what was great about the whole production was that the actors—nearly all of them locals—made that tired ol’ story almost believable. Performances that are usually played for laughs were done with such seemingly true feelings of misery that we the audience gasped and clutched our throats and at times even got teary-eyed.

Christopher Montgomery and Olivia Paget as Mr. and Mrs. Bennet di

dn’t snip and snap but played a couple who still deeply loved each other after long years together. It was a nice change to an old trope.

Lori Young, playing Lydia, was so good it was like watching pure talent being hatched from an egg. She took her character from a flirty girl to an adult who faced a lifetime of repentance for what she’d done. Her performance was nuanced, heartrending, and oh so very believable.

Devlin Haines was nearly overshadowed by the girl, but he was excellent as the lying, deceitful Wickham. Too bad the TV industry keeps casting him as the good guy.

Jack Worth, rarely seen on film outside a racing vehicle, looked so in love with the beautiful Gisele Nolan—who played the part of Jane with a delicate subtlety—that I felt it. Could he be the next Tate Landers?

As for Landers himself, all I can say is, Who knew?

Something that’s always bothered me about every version of Pride and Prejudice is that I could never see why Darcy was falling for feisty little Lizzy Bennet. But Landers let us see it. His cutting looks at the sycophants around him, the way he hid smiles behind pretty Lizzy’s back, made me understand.

As for Acacia Reddick as Elizabeth Bennet, she was a fireball! She bawled out poor Darcy so well that I felt sorry for him. Whatever she does in real life, she may want to reconsider.

There are to be twelve performances of Pride and Prejudice in the little town of Summer Hill, Virginia, which is halfway between Richmond and Charlottesville. If you’re in the area, I suggest you go see it. If you’re not in the neighborhood, charter a jet.

Bill Simons, your—for once—happy critic

Casey put the paper down. “Wow,” she said, but could think of nothing else to say.

Gizzy held out her hand for Emmie. “Let’s go downstairs and I’ll scramble a dozen eggs.”

“Peacock eggs?” Emmie asked as she took Gizzy’s hand.

“We wouldn’t have anything else.”

Jack and Nina went with them, closing the door and leaving Tate and Casey alone.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

He was still leaning against the headboard, and he held out his arm to her. She snuggled against him.

Tate entwined her fingers with his. “It’s all because of you.”

“What is?”

“This,” he said. “Everything. Jack and Gizzy. Nina and Josh. Kit and Olivia.”

“You and Harvey Weinstein?”

Tate laughed. “The true-love match.”

“Do you think you’ll be asked to play other parts?”

He pulled back to look at her. “I think it just might happen. And you brought it all to me.”