Sophia Rose Reviews - Before the Storm by Barry S Richman

 

Before the Storm by Barry S Richman

#1 Matlock Fitzwilliams

Historical Fiction

Publisher:  Barry S Richman

Published:  4.10.26

Pages:  347

Rating: 4.5 stars

Format: eARC

Source:  Author via Inkslingers PR

Sellers:  Amazon

ADD TO: Goodreads

GoodReads Synopsis:

He is a cavalry officer the kingdom relies upon—and dares not question.
Men like him are not born. They are forged.

Before reputation. Before legend.
Before the name Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam becomes synonymous with iron discipline and lethal resolve.

Before the Storm is the history of the second son of Matlock—the spare.
Fitzwilliam is marked early by a constitution that does not register pain as it should. What others feel, he notes only in passing. What is first regarded as peculiarity becomes a curiosity to physicians and, in darker hands, an invitation.

Sent across a Europe tightening towards war, Fitzwilliam moves through Paris, Berlin, and Vienna under constant appraisal by diplomats, soldiers, and men who recognise the hand of the state at work--and mean to harden it further. In him, they recognise something rare. What begins as appraisal becomes selection.

This is not the story of a hero’s rise.
It is the account of a man who submits to pressure and trial until the ordeal drives him beyond the last restraints of gentility.

 

Sophia Rose's Review:

Returning to the Doubt Not, Cousin world, Barry Richman hones in on one of the central figures in that tale with Before the Storm from Colonel Fitzwilliam’s perspective.  A historical fiction that blends character subtleties with the hard, brutal reality that Fitzwilliam rode straight into without hesitation.

 

Before the Storm will show as a first book in series, but I am going to advise very strongly that readers not pick this up until after reading Doubt Not, Cousin because context is everything and this one- at least in my opinion, can only truly make sense after getting the broader picture from the earlier book. 

 

Before the Storm opens when Richard Fitzwilliam is a young boy, a twin and the second son of the Earl and Countess of Matlock.  Richard is considered ‘weird’ because he was late to speak and when he did, he was sparing, but mostly because he is desensitized to pain so much always be careful to check for injuries he never noticed occurring.  He’s a boy of rigid habits and focused on learning and training in all thing’s military much to his parent’s frustration.

Eventually, he makes a back-to-back best friend with his equally lonely and thoughtful cousin, Fitzwilliam Darcy.  It is there he encounters a young reprobate George Wickham and the cousins take that matter in hand.

In an attempt to turn Richard from his desire to go into the military, the earl hires a harsh Prussian combat instructor, but under-estimates his son who relishes the brutal training and excels.  He has a tender side, but only his mother and younger sisters are allowed to see it.

After university, Fitzwilliam is still set on the military, but obeys his parents and takes a European tour.  However, he’s not there to get cultured though that is his guise.  He does some clandestine visits for his father and government and then a personal mission of his own leading to a further forging of his steely character.

His father hasn’t deterred him from his thirst for the military, but what will it take to gain him what he most desires?

 

A Pride and Prejudice prequel-variation and parallel tale, Before the Storm has a unique writing voice that I assume was meant to portray Richard Fitzwilliam’s way of thinking and speaking since it is abbreviated, abrupt, and stark.  In fact, one must pay close attention to the subtleties or miss the point of some of his motives and actions.  Full respect when an author trusts readers to catch it all without having to be so explicit that it takes away from the reading experience. 

 

I was riveted at times particularly when Richard was older and I knew I was getting the extra scenes that were untold or tantalized me when only mentioned briefly in passing in Doubt Not Cousin.  He was having intense and often deadly adventures and he thrived in that environment.  But, the height to me was when his true and good moral compass was exposed when someone under-estimated him as a mere brutal monster.

 

Before the Storm ends in a good place after showing how Colonel Fitzwilliam came to be the warrior.  I look forward to seeing what comes next in the family saga when his daughter takes the spotlight in the next part of the story, After the Fall.  Another strong, fierce entry in the Matlock Fitzwilliam family saga that I can recommend to historical fiction fans.

 

Author Bio:

Barry S. Richman is a military veteran whose work explores character, restraint, and moral consequence within the Regency world of Jane Austen. His lifelong engagement with Pride and Prejudice began unexpectedly in 2003, while recuperating at home after a routine medical procedure. What began as a single rereading soon became a sustained immersion; he has yet to put Austen’s world down.

Over the next two decades, Richman read thousands of Pride and Prejudice variations, developing a deep familiarity with the canon and its many interpretive traditions. His wife—whom he fondly calls his own “Jane Bennet”—watched him finish novels at a remarkable pace and eventually suggested that he write one himself. For years, he dismissed the idea, citing time, work, and responsibility. Circumstances, however, had other plans.

During the upheaval of the COVID pandemic, Richman and his wife made a decisive change in direction, restructuring their lives and long-term plans. The period proved formative, sharpening his focus on endurance, adaptation, and the quiet consequences of disruption—concerns that would come to shape his work.

Writing became both discipline and refuge. Richman began asking the questions that had long preoccupied him as a reader: What if the canon bent differently? What happens before the moment Austen shows us? What is owed, and what is endured, in silence?

From those questions emerged a sustained engagement with Austen’s world, approached not as pastiche but as serious historical and moral inquiry. Richman’s work focuses on what precedes the familiar moments of the canon, and on the private reckonings that shape character long before they are seen.

Barry S. Richman divides his time between his beloved abla’s home in Florida and his retirement home in southwestern Turkey, with his wife of more than thirty years. Together, they continue to build a life shaped by curiosity, movement, and the enduring power of Austen’s world.

Sophia’s Bio:

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.

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