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

By: Abigail Reynolds

Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt

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 In this Pride and Prejudice variation, the lane dividing the Hunsford parsonage from Rosings Park has been replaced by one of the flood-prone Kentish rivers.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

Love

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

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.

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.