A Sister's Curse

A Pride and Prejudice Variation

By: Jayne Bamber

Narrated by: Katherine Holt

Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Two families from very different situations in life are linked forever after a fatal accident on the Great North Road. This tragedy breeds years of sorrow and misunderstanding as well as prosperity and even romance in an emotional coming-of-age tale not only for Elizabeth Bennet, but for her sisters, and even the adults who let them down.

For nearly two decades, Edward Gardiner is haunted by the difficult decisions he has made. Lady Anne Darcy must bear all the guilt and delight of being granted her heart’s desire...at a price. The Fitzwilliam family has motives and misgivings of their own as the earl of Matlock tries to keep them all together, right the wrongs of the past, and pave the way for the next generation.

Fitzwilliam Darcy realizes too late what it means to be a brother and is faced with a parts of his past he regrets, just as his desire to protect the family he loves leads him back to the woman he was destined to love the most...a woman who despises him.

Elizabeth Bennet struggles through the turbulence of adolescence, her judgement clouded by past trauma and the complicated dynamics of her extended family. Secrets are revealed and reexamined as she is forced to come to terms with the truth of her past and the promise of her future, in a family bound together by heartbreak.

Author's note:

This story is based on a deviation from canon 18 years prior to the opening of Pride & Prejudice. Several canon characters are omitted entirely, and aside from Darcy and Elizabeth, the story will focus on several minor canon characters. Some of these characters have developed differently from canon due to the events of the story as they unfold. New characters have also been introduced: The earl and countess of Matlock and their children, the viscount and Lady Charlotte, as well as the dowager countess of Matlock, lady Olivia Gardiner and Rose Gardiner, Sir Lewis de Bourgh, and Elliot de Bourgh.

©2019 Jayne Bamber (P)2020 Jayne Bamber

Great story

An intricate and interesting story. Well written and the narrator did a great job. The beginning of the story changes the whole story. Secrets and nefarious business. Some angst before ODC can have their HEA.

You would never expect the villain

I also love the more surprising couples. It was incredibly well written, and every couple made sense.

The main issue driving the plot is the way that various people process the knowledge of a traumatic incident, based on age, knowledge, and the knowledge that they are ready to gain or that others are ready to impart. Not every person is ready for the knowledge that will help them, not every person is emotionally prepared to share the information that can help, and every person has to work through the strains of growing up and accepting the past, all whilst encountering the unexpected and unfortunate experiences of life.

Intricately composed plot and relationships.

Was not personally fond of the narrator's voice, but was very impressed with the delivery.

I got through it

The story was all over the place to me. So much going on, so much changed. It would have almost been better to make this a story unrelated to P&P. The narration was weird. It was so slow. I had to speed it up to 1.1 (sometimes 1.2) for it to seem normal to me. I don’t think I would ever reread this like I do with my other books. I have others from this author that I liked much better, Madness in Meryton for example.

Narrator 👎

Up there with the top 5 worst audibles. When I purchase an audiobook I expect a certain level of professionalism as in a voice “actor” not someone simply mincing through simply reading the text. It downgraded the quality of the book and as one other reviewer said she got through it. I think this is a much better story than the takeaway from this audible version. I would love to hear someone like Stevie Zimmerman, Neil Roy McFarlane or Harry Frost do it. Basically, the characters and personalities of P&P are put in a blender and in no way resemble anyone in the original. But it was still a good effort and I found it diverting aside from the monotonous reading. Wish I had just read it instead. I do think Jayne Bamber is an excellent writer. I have enjoyed all of her books. She does at times wander off into a much larger plot so as to jumble it up a bit but she is skillful at dialogue and keeping people and situations straight. With so many characters that is no small feat.

Disappointing — too ponderous

First , the narrator was horrible. The conversations were stilted. The characters were unbearable. The way the “curse” was presented was ridiculous. That Lizzy was allowed to make her own decision at 13 made little sense. And there were way too many plot issues.