Mr. Darcy's Refuge: A Pride & Prejudice Variation

By: Abigail Reynolds

Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt

Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Trapped for three days by a flood, and trapped forever by society because of it....

The river isn't the only thing overflowing in Hunsford when a natural disaster forces Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy to work together. The residents of flood-stricken Hunsford, seeking refuge in the parsonage atop the hill, are unaware they are interrupting Darcy's disastrous proposal. Even worse, the flood has washed out the only bride to Rosings Park, stranding Darcy with the woman who has just refused his offer of marriage. But it may already be too late to redeem Elizabeth's reputation. In this Pride and Prejudice variation, the lane dividing the Hunsford parsonage from Rosings Park has been replaced by one of the flood-prone Kentish rivers. The storms are real - the spring of 1811 was remarkable for numerous thunderstorms in Southeast England.

©2012 Abigail Reynolds (P)2012 Abigail Reynolds

Great story. So-so narrator.

I really enjoyed this storyline. However, the narrator is horrible with male character voices. It took away from the writing.

Love

I love the storyline and characters. Having some sexual content between Darcy and Lizzy just solidifies the love story.

Not my favorite Reynolds book, but still good.

Even when unfavorably compared to her other works, this book is still superior to at least 75% of the P&P variations out there. Abigail Reynolds has a gift for making her plots flow, imbuing her characters with believable qualities that remain consistent throughout the book, and creating scenarios that place the reader in a place and time that feels comfortable.

The audible version of this book is beautifully narrated. The reader has an English accent which, of course, makes perfect sense, but it is one that the American ear has no difficulty adjusting to. The only hitch is that the female reader has to also enunciate the male voices and there is a limit to how successful that can be overall.

The reason why I didn't enjoy this book as much as the others is that I had a difficult time believing that Lizzy could go from absolutely hating Darcy to absolutely adoring him. Literally, when she went upstairs she hated him. When she descended the stairs (after eavesdropping on a very heated conversation in which Darcy defended her) she was madly and irrevocably in love and ready to take on the world on his behalf. The rest of the story consists of the two of them biding their time until they can marry against the opposition of almost their entire families. Mr. Bennet is particularly irritating in this book, the Gardiners are particularly lovable.

Don't get me wrong, it's a beautifully well written and well paced story, well worth reading.

So So P&P Variation

I found the story to be just ok. I might have found story more enjoyable with a different narrator but I just couldn't get past my lack of enjoyment of the recording. The narrator's interpretation of the male voices -- especially Mr Darcy's -- were very unsuccessfully rendered. Mr Darcy sounded like a crotchety old man, not the young hero of the story. Also, many of the females sounded like little girls. Jane almost sounded as if she was voiced with a lisp.

Highly enjoyable, with more realism than most

Let's be honest, lots of P&P variations have a very predictable outcome of everyone besides the usual villains being wealthy friends who live an agreeable distance from each other. This story is far from that.

They face more realistic problems, dealing with issues that are much more likely to occur. There are not infinite blankets in the parsonage to warm the villagers, nor is there an endless supply of food to serve them as they take refuge. Not all the villagers live, there is fighting over supplies, people get messy and muddy in the storm, and a child injured in the storm wets themself when unable to reach the chamberpot alone.

Unlike many stories, Lizzy does not fall in love with Darcy and promptly marry him after just a couple days. She does accept him fairly quickly, after seeing how he handles an emergency, but she thinks it over first and there is more to getting married than just rushing to a church.

And the story takes place over far more than just the posed scenario included in the summary - there are plenty of steps along the way to a happy ending, and they are not filled with frills and bonnets and curtseys before the queen.

I will note that, like many female narrators, this one has some rather comical male voices, but all voices are distinct and fairly suitable, and it is easy to follow along. Mr. Bennet does sound like Archie from Veggietales, but as I said, the voices are comical, so to match with an erudite cartoon character works well for Mr. Bennet, regardless of whether that character is a stalk of asparagus.

Fun twist on a classic

If you could sum up Mr. Darcy's Refuge: A Pride & Prejudice Variation in three words, what would they be?

Not what I expected.

What other book might you compare Mr. Darcy's Refuge: A Pride & Prejudice Variation to and why?

Eloisa James Duchess series.

Have you listened to any of Pearl Hewitt’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

A pleasant surprise

Any additional comments?

I love Pride and Prejudice. I read it over and over again when I was a teenager. It was hard for me to listen to th characters not do or say the words I knew by heart.

WOWSER!

I love almost anything by Abigail Reynolds, and this story is one of her best. Put that together with the best "performance-reader" for a P&P variation and you've got a pure delightful experience in an audio book. Pearl Hewitt does the most delicious reading ever!

If you love Austen's characters this is not foryou

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

There are mixed reviews on this book and my review is far from a 5 star. I have read other 'Pride and Prejudice' variations and this is the one I have liked the least.

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, however, as the plot began to untangle I liked it less and less as a 'Pride and Predjudice' variation. I believe I would have liked it more if It wasn't a 'Pride and Prejudice' variation and Abigail Renyolds had changed the character names and not promoted it as so.

I switched between reading it to listening to it on audio to help finish the story.

Many of the characters were so out of character from Jane Austen's timeless classic. It was hard to imagine the characters I have come to know and love in this story, in particular Mr Bennett. I did not like the end of the story.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

I did not mind the Narration, however, I only listened to part of the story and read the rest.

Loved but the narrator is VERY VEXING indeed

I really enjoyed this book but there were at least ten times I wanted to stop and ask for a refund. This narrator is horrible. Almost all the character voices are screechy, nasally, both for the men and women but the men are the worst. I searched for another version of this title without this narrator but unfortunately this was the only version.

Loved the story

Loved the story! My only criticism would be that the artist made Darcy sound like a 80 year old man, which made it a bit hard to like him at first.