Elizabeth Aston featuring the Darcy, Collins, and Bingley families. The first novel to go out under the "Elizabeth Aston" name, "Mr. Darcy's Daughters", was released as a sequel to "Pride and Prejudice" in 2003. It features the five daughters of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet as they navigate London society while their parents are in Constantinople. The novel was a success for publisher Simon & Schuster, and led the company to produce further Austen adaptations and sequels by other authors, such as Pamela Aidan's "Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman" series. Aston's Darcy series came to include five further novels: "The Exploits & Adventures of
Mr. Darcy Bennet and Mrs. Bennet despite having been married for 20 years; by contrast after his engagement, Darcy for the first time calls his fiancee Elizabeth, which shows the depth of his love. A sign that this is a marriage based on love can be seen in Darcy is described as having an annual income of £10, 000 pounds, and Elizabeth turns down his marriage proposals until she finally decides she loves him. The British cultural critic Robert Irvine described the appeal of Mr. Darcy to women as that of an "absolute and unconditioned male need for a woman". Irvine argued