The Longbourn Entail

"Her father...had married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her…"

Why did Mr Bennet marry Miss Gardiner and create one of the most ill-matched couples in literature? Why couldn't he break the entail that would see Longbourn go to Mr Collins and not to his daughters? Why did he fall out with Mr Collins' father? Why was Elizabeth his favourite?

Set more than twenty years before the opening of Pride and Pre...