"The True Darcy Spirit"
By Alexandra Potter (Ballantine Books, $12.95)

"The True Darcy Spirit" is a traditional sequel, but with a bit of twist: The action is moved to the original cast's descendants. Cassandra, daughter of the haughty Anne deBourgh, has been kicked out of her family for running away with her boyfriend, and her distant cousin Horatio Darcy is the lawyer assigned to hand her the bad news. Horatio himself is proud but no innocent, and he finds himself drawn to the determined, independent Cassandra.

"Spirit" does a good job of imitating the cadences of the Austen original and illustrating the inequalities of gender and class in the early 19th century as Cassandra tries to make her way alone in London as an artist. If the society circles it pictures are a bit more overtly salacious than

Austen's comedies of manners, it's a minor quibble in the face of a good read. ¦

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