An Accomplished Woman

By: Jude Morgan

Narrated by: Phyllida Nash

Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's Summary

1817. As a young woman, clever, self-reliant Lydia Templeton scandalised society by rejecting Lewis Durrant, the county's most eligible batchelor.

Ten years later, Lydia has no regrets and, having concluded that matters of the heart need no longer trouble her, she is quite happy to remain unwed. But others still seek Lydia's advice on their love lives.

©2007 Jude Morgan (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Lovely

I confess, it took me several months to get past the first two chapters of 'An Accomplished Woman', which is odd as I usually devour audiobooks narrated by Phyllida Nash (who is always excellent). After a 4 month hiatus, I began listening to it again after christmas and after that i simply couldn't stop listening!

It is a little slow to start off, but after awhile I found the main character, Lydia Templeton, to be utterly engaging, hilariously witty and very, very likeable. I haven't loved a Regency heroine this much since I first picked up 'Pride and Prejudice' 12 years ago. The few character plot twists presented in the second half of the audiobook were unexpected but left me with such a lovely feeling of satifaction that when the last word had been spoken I had to listen to the entire book all over again!

If you're a fan of Austen, Elizabeth Aston or Georgette Heyer - or indeed, of Phyllida Nash - you should absolutely spend a credit on this audiobook. I'm now looking to buy a printed copy of it!!

for fans of Heyer and Austen-homages

(And you know who you are, even if you don't admit it publicly.)

This is one of the wittiest and well-written cures for the information overloaded brain produced since Heyer.

So Witty

I've never read this author, chose the book because I always love Phylidda Nash's narration.. she does voices so brilliantly.
But i fell in love with the author's writing as well. Such a dry humour, and a gorgeous leading heroine who has both sparkling dialogue and very funny asides. A totally enjoyable book to listen to.

Truly Terrific Regency

How charming to find a modern day writer who manages to capture Austen' sensibility and humor with out resorting to the trite or clich??. All too many regency romances are little more than bodice rippers complete with lusting and thrusting at inopportune times and places. Jude Morgan is to be congratulated on this book and Phyllida Nash does a brilliant job of bringing the characters to life. Lydia is a marvelous heroine whose method of coping with the inanities of life and society by having a drink or three only makes her seem more real when one considers how few socially acceptable possbilites the women of her time had to deal with frustration. The small section where the author managed to use the majority of Jane Austen's book titles in a conversation made me laugh out loud and rewind just to hear it again it was so well done. I will definitely purchase books by this author narrator combo should I come across them.

An Accomplished Tale

I've not tackled a Regency Romance for many years, but listening to Phyllida Nash's glorious voice on the extract convinced me this was just the book I was looking for some light evening listening. The plot is basic, as with most Regency Romances that I've encountered, but the enjoyment is in Jude Morgan's sublime use of the English language together with a very dry sense of humour. I empathised greatly with the main character and her need to indulge in a stiff drink to get her through her daily trials as companion, and laughed frequently at the wonderful descriptions of clothes, locations and personalities of some really rather awful characters. Phyllida Nash's voice and reading was just perfect and I'll likely be downloading more of the books she has narrated purely on the basis of how wonderful it is. Thoroughly recommended.

Worthwhile if you like Austen homages.

I haven't read all that many Austen homages, and most have been disappointing so I was hesitant about this but I'm glad I decided to give it a chance. The plot and characters may not be the most substantial or original, but the writing and narration combine to make this perfectly suitable as light, holiday entertainment.

An Accomplished Woman

I loved this audiobook, perfect narration in my opinion and I found it a lovely, gentle story, the closest I've found to Georgette Heyer in more modern writing - really enjoyed this.

Excellent story, beautifully read

This is a very high-class Regency romance! Lydia Templeton is a woman of education, and of an age to have a certain amount of freedom. Nonetheless she feels constrained by what women may and may not do, and envious of the men around who who have so much more opportunity. This theme, which runs throughout the novel, is counter-balanced by the dilemma of the sweet but easily-influenced Phoebe, in love with two men - Mr A and Mr B, as Lydia thinks of them.

Morgan plays with all the conventions of the Regency novel with immense wit and enjoyment, and the end result is as satisfying to the reader as it no doubt was to write. Morgan also writes very successful fictionalised biographies which display both his knowledge of period detail and his flair with words, but I like his writing best when he's playing.

Phyllida Nash is one of those readers who could make a phone directory sound compelling.

Wonderful

Jude Morgan's masterful use of language and crafting of simple but powerful stories is a delight. Phyllida Nash's performance is flawless.

One for Jane Austen fans.

I enjoyed this book. It?s a little stodgy in places but overall an entertaining listen. Lots of nods in J.A.?s direction and occasionally laugh out loud funny; although the humour is very sly. The reader is excellent. You can?t really go wrong.

More Austen than Heyer

Phyllida Nash tremendous as usual. Story a bit slow though. Not as witty as I expect a regency romance to be.

Modern regency romance well constructed

A plot recognisable as a mixture of a well known Austen and another of Georgette Heyer’s, with some laugh out loud moments, however it dragged a little about mid-way through, and I didn’t feel completely convinced of the emotions of the characters at times. Wonderful performance as usual from the great Phyllida Nash.

Simply wonderful escapism

This book is simply lovely. Intelligent, erudite, well-written and witty. The characters are well-formed, the quality of the writing utterly brilliant and it made me laugh from the first lines. Jude Morgan is one of those authors who never lets the reader down, and this gentle homage to Jane Austen definitely doesn't disappoint. I have listened over and over to it.

Ok

A few overly long conversations unrelated to plot made this novel somewhat slow in parts.

The first I've listened to by this author...

...but not at all bad! Some of the humour was a bit ponderous, but professionally read as always by Phyllida Nash and the regency shenanigans progressed nicely to a satisfactory conclusion. Nuff said.

Dull and rambling

I wanted to like this but after several hours have given up. Two dimensional characters in a prosaic plot, with long winded conversations that add nothing to aid the perceptions of the listener. A waste of money.