At the same time I found myself intrigued, as always, by Darcy's thoughts and feelings. We see events from Lizzy's point of view in Pride and Prejudice, but Darcy's feelings are only hinted at, and some of the most exciting parts of the book, for example Wickham's plan to elope with Georgiana, and Darcy visiting Wickham in London, are only told in retrospect.

Alongside these two thoughts was a desire to know when Pride and Prejudice was set. I started working out the year from internal evidence, and as I did so, the idea of writing Darcy's Diary came to mind.

I thought readers might be interested to discover how I set about creating a timeline for Darcy's Diary. First of all, I wanted to discover in which year it was set. To find out, I searched the book looking for clues, and here they are:

There are some specific dates mentioned in Pride and Prejudice.

The Netherfield ball takes place on Tuesday, 26th November.(Tuesday from the end of Chapter 17 and 26th November from Chapter 44.) I decided to limit the possible years to those from the time Jane Austen started writing the book to the time when it was published. This left a choice of 1799, 1805 or 1811 for the opening scenes.

A date mentioned in the following year should have clinched the matter. Mr Gardiner writes to Mr Bennet on Monday August 2nd. So all I had to do was to find out if Monday August 2nd fell in 1800, 1806 or 1812. This would not be entirely conclusive unless Monday August 2nd fell in 1812, because 1800 and 1806 share the same calendar, but at least it would help.

But few things in writing are ever simple. Within the relevant time period, Monday, August 2nd falls in 1802!

This presented me with a problem. Clearly both dates cannot be right. What to do?

I decided to stick with 1799, 1805 or 1811 for the opening scenes, instead of changing the whole thing to the 1801, which would have to be the year if the date of Mr Gardiner's letter was correct.

Another date in the book helped me to make this decision, as it tied in with the idea of the opening scenes taking place in 1799, 1805 or 1811. Mr Collins first arrived at Longbourn on Monday November 18th. (Chapter 13.)

(As a final decider, I had also discovered that internal evidence points to the date of Mr Gardiner's letter being wrong anyway, but more of this below!)

I decided to make my choice using the date of Easter in the following year to guide me.

In 1800, Easter Day fell on April 13th

In 1806, Easter Day fell on April 6th

In 1812, Easter Day fell on March 29th

Easter is clearly mentioned in Pride and Prejudice, when the characters are at Lady Catherine's, and so I felt I should be able to work out when it fell.

It is difficult to date the events of the spring, as Jane Austen says things like, 'A few days later,' so I found it easier to work backwards, as more specific dates are given.

In Chapter 38 we are told that Elizabeth had spent 6 weeks in Kent. We know it can't have been exactly six weeks, because she leaves on a Saturday and would therefore have had to arrive on a Saturday if the stay was for exactly six weeks. But we see her activites the day after she arrives, and she does not go to church. Therefore, she cannot have arrived on a Saturday as she would certainly have gone to church the following day. Her visit must have been for about six weeks.

To work out when she arrived, I deduced that since she leaves the Gardiners in the second week of May, when she had remained with them for a few days, (end of Chapter 38, start of Chapter 39) she must have arrived at the Gardiners on or around about May 3rd at the earliest. This means she must have arrived in Kent on or around about 24th March at the earliest.

As Easter is about three weeks later, this would give an Easter date of about 14th April.

Clearly, the closest Easter day in the relevant years was April 13th.

I had solved the problem of dating the book, to my own satisfaction. I believe the Netherfield ball took place in 1799, and Darcy's proposal took place in 1800.

This then left the problem of Mr Gardiner's letter, dated Monday 2nd August

I already knew that this date did not fit in, so I had to decide when I thought the letter was really written.

The more I studied Pride and Prejudice, the more I realized that, owing to other internal evidence, the letter could not have been sent on Monday, August 2nd anyway: Working backwards, Lizzy writes to her aunt to ask her about Darcy's attendance at the wedding, let slip by Lydia soon after her arrival, and has a letter 'as soon as she possible could' (Chapter 52), dated Sept 6. This means Lizzy must have written (and spoken to Lydia) on the 5th, so Lydia must have been married on 1st September (as it was a Monday, Chapter 51). As she spent a fortnight with the Gardiners she must have gone to stay with them on Monday 18th August, which means that Mr Gardiners letter saying, 'She (Lydia) comes to us today' (Chapter 49), should have been dated Monday 18th August, not Monday 2nd August.

I found it very interesting to work out a timeline for Pride and Prejudice, and I hope it has interested you.

For a more detailed timeline, click here