Death Takes a Holiday at Pemberley

A Pride & Prejudice Romantic Fantasy

By: Kelly Miller

Narrated by: Christopher Jarvis

Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

What will the master of Pemberley do when confronted with the mercurial whims of an all-powerful angel?

Fitzwilliam Darcy’s well-ordered life is about to become a chaotic nightmare. A man of fortune, property, and social prominence, he has everything he could desire. Blissfully married to his wife, Elizabeth, they have a two-year-old son. With so much to live for, Darcy is shaken by a near-fatal riding accident. After a miraculous escape, he is visited by an otherworldly being: an angel of death named Graham. Threatening dire consequences, Graham compels Darcy to guide him on a sojourn in the world of mortals.

Darcy immediately questions the angel’s motives when he demands to be a guest at Pemberley. Can he trust Graham’s assurance that no harm will come to his wife and child? And why does Graham insist on spending time with Elizabeth? How can Darcy possibly protect his family from an angel with power over life and death?

In this romantic fantasy, the beloved couple from Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice must contend with both human and unearthly challenges. Are the fates against them? Or will their extraordinary love conquer all?

©2019 Kelly Miller (P)2021 Kelly Miller

I really love the books that have D & E happy

Love that ODC are happy throughout the book. They are married with a family. Very enjoyable.
The only thing that bothered me is in chapter 8 there is background talking. I can't believe a professional company would put out sub standard material

Beautifully done!

Wish books didn’t have to end! I sure hope she write more books! Love the narrators voice!

Regency meets Fantasy

Darcy is 'saved' from a fatal fall from. his horse by an Angel of Death. The angel is impressed by Darcy's memories and wants to observe him with his family and daily life for a week. Quite entertaining and fulfilling.

Otherworldly take…

A fanciful tale that I liked very much although a bit incomprehensible still very entertaining with some touching moments that brought tears to my eyes. There are some nuggets of wisdom about life’s journey. Some takeaway is appreciate your life and those you love, be kind as bitterness wastes a life. Life isn’t fair but don’t punish everyone around you for your burden. Good narrator with music and sound effects.

Elegant prose, beautiful romance, authentic Regency depictions, and expert execution of the Pride & Prejudice style

This is my second Kelly Miller novel, and again, she vastly exceeds all my expectations. I listened to the audiobook, which is of impeccable production quality, a truly immersive experience.

DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY AT PEMBERLEY is a Pride & Prejudice variation with a paranormal twist. When Fitzwilliam Darcy suffers a near-death scare, the angel of death, aka Graham, makes an exception and interferes, saving Darcy’s life. In return, Graham asks to experience humanity by following Darcy through his daily life. Thus begins the thrilling, romantic fantasy where Death literally takes a holiday (from reaping) at Pemberley, Darcy’s estate.

As Graham accompanies Darcy, he is a constant reminder of (literal) death and mortality. He seeks to understand why Darcy finds life fulfilling despite its struggles—mostly by studying his wife, Elizabeth, and their son. The reader experiences life from Death’s perspective, a genius angle. There are hints of IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE sprinkled within the Austenesque narrative, adding modern flavor to historical fiction.

Miller masterfully evokes both the fleeting nature of life along with the crushing gravity of death. With elegant prose, beautiful romance, authentic Regency depictions, and expert execution of the Pride & Prejudice style, this luscious story winds through drama, intrigue, loyalty, and class politics during a beloved era.

Extremely impressive

I absolutely loved it. Ms. Miller struck a humongous 10!

The narrator did an outstanding job!

I truly enjoyed this audio book!!!

Excellent!

I wasn’t sure where this story was going at first, but I’ve read/listened to a number of books by this author, and she has never let me down. This book was no exception. The story was riveting and totally delightful. It is a wonderfully unique historical romantic fantasy, and one which I highly recommend.

An Entertaining Reimagining

It’s immediately obvious that there has been some serious research of both Miss Austen’s iconic characters but also the Regency period. This is an entertaining book that puts us three years into Darcy and Elizabeth’s marriage and they are living their happily ever after. That is until Darcy decides to take a short cut on his way home and instead of being saved by his “guardian Angel” he instead meets Graham-the Angel of Death. Graham has more autonomy than most angels we’ve met in books and he has his own agenda. He wants to spend some time at the estate with Darcy, Elizabeth and baby Bennet. Throw in some unexpected houseguests and you have the making of a really interesting story. It seems that Death can take Darcy’s life if he likes. We get to revisit and see a bit of Darcy’s surliness. He’s chosen to leave Elizabeth in the dark which doesn’t help his pensive mood—he is seriously face to face with Death. There is great character development and some pretty heady subjects when one is entertaining Death.

The Narrator is unique. It brought to mind a radio drama with the occasional sound effects by the narrator. At first it was a bit disconcerting but once I switched gears and thought of it more a radio drama it segued nicely into the entertaining aspect of the story. When one is mindful of the fact that Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was satirical this makes for a fun respectful reimagining of much loved characters.

Listen Luke a radio drama

Christopher Jarvis has a pleasant voice and the added sound effects fit well. It was odd at first, but once I listened to it like a radio drama I appreciated it immensely. The story is interesting and captivating.
This is low angst with a HEA for ODC as expected and required IMHO.
worth the credit.
The 4 stars are because of the music which is disconcerting and the wish that Mr. Graham would have shown his gift more often.

Not at all what I expected

In spite of good reviews and a decent audio sample, I found that overall this audiobook was a bit bizarre, the story was in need of a good editor (for example, one character had a father identified first as a marquess and then later as an earl), and had too many anachronisms. The author may have been making a nod to the 1934 movie Death Takes a Holiday and 1998's Meet Joe Black, but events seemed a bit forced into the JAFF genre. The story included many behaviors and potential life-changing choices of familiar P&P characters, which were examined and resolved by the mysterious Mr. Graham. However, a most improbable final deus ex machina turned a looming tragedy for ODC into an HEA. While the narrator was decent, the audio sample didn't include the MANY unfortunate sound effects and sound quality variations that, for me, detracted from the story.