Chapter One

The Bennet's of number 34 Longbourne Road were a dysfunctional family to say the least. Mr Bennet, the only man in a family of seven (apart from the Yorkshire Terrier Cyril) could often be found avoiding the "disturbance" of the six other women he shared the house with in his study located in an extension at the back of their five bedroomed Victorian-style terraced house. There was a silent rule among the Bennet family that their father was not to be disturbed under any circumstances, unless of course, it was essential that he be removed from what he liked to think of as his only place of sanctuary. The morning of the 23rd of May was, in the opinion of his wife, one of those occasions:

"Daniel!" cried Mrs Bennet, knocking forcefully on the office door.

"I have the most wonderful news to tell you!" Reluctantly withdrawing himself from his beloved Sunday crossword, Mr Bennet padded across the room and opened the door. Mrs Bennet looked overwhelmed with excitement, which, as he knew from 21 years of marriage, was not always a good sign.

"What is it dear?" he said, exasperatedly, hoping that he would be back to 'ten across' within a matter of minutes.

"Someone has finally bought the house at Netherfield!". The fact that this was the big news which had dragged him from his peace and quiet was not a particularly welcome fact to Mr Bennet.

"And this affects us, how?" he asked, using his not so recently acquired skill of maintaining a cool exterior even in the face of serious irritation.

"They've agreed to buy the Brewery!"

The Brewery was the cinema come arts centre where Mrs Bennet worked as the leader of the Youth theatre programme and the centres chief manager. Its owners, the Ted and Natalie Coleman, had recently been forced to put it on the market after they became bankrupt due to Ted's gambling addiction, forcing Mrs Bennet and many other employees on the brink of redundancy.

"And you'll never guess who's bought it!" squealed Mrs Bennet,

"Who, darling?"

"Emily Bingley!"

"Who? " asked Mr Bennet, thoroughly confused.

"Oh Danny, don't tease me, you know who I mean. The editor of Country Life, thats who!"

Still unaware of who exactly this woman was, Mr Bennet decided to humour his wife and pursued the matter no further, hoping to finally be left in peace, however this was not the case.

"She has invited the whole family round for a barbecue on Sunday evening as a housewarming party, how exciting! We must go!"

Mrs Martha Bennet had lived her whole life for parties and social occasions and therefore was over the moon to have been invited to the party of such an "exciting individual" as Emily Bingley, editor of her favourite magazine and now her new boss. Up until recently she had had no cause for such excitement and was having withdrawal symptoms. After finally leaving Mr Bennet in peace she decided to inform all of her daughters of her wonderful news, running round the house searching for the three of her five daughters who were actually present at the time. She found 15 year old Lydia and 16 year old Kitty in the living room, lounging on the sofa watching the latest episode of some 'reality TV rubbish' (as their father would call it) both with their thumbs glued to their iPhones.

When they didn't seem particularly interested she trotted through the back garden down to the small shed located by the back gate to find Mary, the middle daughter, who at 18 years old, despaired of her family and spent most of her time writing songs and working out what she was going to protest about next. A hater of all things 'social', Mrs Bennet's attempts to excite were lost on her and so, her mother retreated back to the kitchen to wait for the return of the final two members of the family.

Jane Bennet was twenty one, and was currently studying architecture at the University of Exeter, a university which she had chosen, partly (although privately so as not to offend anyone) on the basis of its distance from Longbourne road. Having finished a couple of days prior to Mrs Bennet's 'wonderful news' she had gone to the station to pick up her younger sister Elizabeth (or Lizzie as she was known to the family) who was returning from Oxford. Of all the members of the family it was Jane and Lizzie who knew how to humour their mother and so, as they made the twenty minute journey back from the station, Mrs Bennet sat and waited, waited for someone to finally take an interest in her most wonderful information.

The next chapter will be up very shortly, please review and let me know what you think!