I shocked my young niece recently when she asked about my favorite character in the "Harry Potter" franchise and I answered honestly: Severus Snape. Dark-haired, glowering, bookish and faithful, there's just something about a Snape. A Mr. Rochester (or Heathcliff). A Kylo Ren. A Darcy.
Though Elizabeth Bennet is a noble, engaging and unique heroine, it's Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy Esquire we continue to talk about, more than a century after Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" was first published. In the 1813 Regency story, Darcy is a wealthy young man, in charge of a large estate, who tags along with his friend, the hapless Charles Bingley, and meets Elizabeth at a ball. He's brash. He's brilliant. He hates Elizabeth until of course, rather quickly, he loves her.
