He Taught Me to Hope: Darcy and the Young Knight's Quest

By: P. O. Dixon

Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt

Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

What if Elizabeth is promised to another when she meets Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, the one man who captures her heart and imagination like no other?

What's more, Darcy has an entanglement of his own--an engagement of a peculiar kind.

As dire as their chance for "happily ever after" seems, there is a measure of hope by way of a strong and enduring bond between them ...

The legend of King Arthur meets the timelessness of Miss Jane Austen's endearing works in this delightfully entertaining Pride and Prejudice adaptation that takes you back to a magical time of enchantment and romance and lets you fall in love with Darcy and Elizabeth once again.

©2011 P. O. Dixon (P)2013 P. O. Dixon

Interesting version of Pride and Prejudice

Would you consider the audio edition of He Taught Me to Hope: Darcy and the Young Knight's Quest to be better than the print version?

Yes, because this narrator gives life to the characters.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Elizabeth is a warm-hearted woman with hopes and dreams despite having a family of uncaring nitwits. Her son, Ben, is a marginally lonely boy who needs male company and attaches himself to Mr. Darcy, whom he has interchanged with King Arthur. For his part, Darcy goes along with the fantasy, but then things get complicated.

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

Yes. This narration was truly delightful in that she clearly differentiated characters and there was no theatrical melodrama, but a sensitive rendition of the author's work.

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

Be careful what you wish for.

Any additional comments?

This book was gifted to me in exchange for an honest review.

Characters should not have been revised

Although I enjoyed the story, it was painful when several of Austen's characters were rewritten. For example, Mr Bennet and Jane Bennet. I could not accept that Mr Bennet would support Jeffrey Collins over Elizabeth or that Jane would accept Jeffrey Collin's view of Elizabeth without question. These issues damaged an otherwise pleasant reading experience.

Beautiful Story

Beautiful story about Elizabeth as a Widow with a child; then meeting Darcy later. Anne’s part was different and I enjoyed her different variation as I did Elizabeth’s. I recommend this story for others to read!

Elizabeth's son is the only redeeming character

All of the characters are vastly different than the originals. The whole story line is so ridiculous, no person in this era would have acted the way these characters did. I hate it when authors mix the attitudes of the 21st century with how people would act in the 19th century. The reason I'm drawn to the regency era is because it's so vastly different than the way people behave in this modern era. Darcy, Elizabeth, and every other character is so OUT OF CHARACTER. Why even try to pass this off as a Pride and Prejudice variation when the only similarities are the names of the characters.

Mr Darcy and his Camelot

Fans of the original pride and prejudice will either love or hate this reworking of her original characters. In this version, the precocious and highly imaginative young Ben, Lizzie's son from a short lived marriage which ended quickly leaving her a widow, meets King Arthur, charmingly played by the dreamy Mr. Darcy. The compulsory round of misconceptions and catastrophes ensue leading to romance, love and more than one marriage.
Amazingly, I somehow managed to avoid reading the much adored Miss Austin in spite of 10 years of high school and university English lit courses, so I came to the book with few preconceptions ... and I loved it. Ben can be a bit over the top, but mostly charmingly so, Mr. Darcy is always the gentlemen, never succumbing to his lust for Lizzie, Anne is the classic, damsel in distress, playing at illness and weakness to snare a man who needs to be needed and the aristocratic older generation are as overbearing and nasty as one would expect of the privileged ruling class.
Dixon's language is lush and rich and her settings are vibrant and beautiful - the town houses, the country estates, all the classic settings of the Romance period of literature. The tale is larger than life and the Camelot allusions are subtle and charming.
Narrator Pearl Hewitt presents the novel with all the grace and wit the script requires and lends life to the many characters with a wide variety of voices.
I thoroughly enjoyed this tale and would love to explore the rest of P.O. Dixon's adventures in Jane Austen's world.

Predictable

Ben is mostly annoying. I'm not sure I agree with the author's characterization of Mr. Bennett but it was nice not to have much of the Bennett family in the book.

Great Book!

Any additional comments?

This is a great book written by P.O. Dixon and narrated by Pearl Hewitt. This book can be listened to in one sitting if you have the time, once I started listening to it I didn’t want to put it down until the end. This is a great book with a wonderful story and well developed characters. This book will keep you reading long into the night. This was such a great read and full of surprises.

The narrator Pearl Hewitt. did a great job with this book. She did a great job with the different voices of each character in this book. It was very easy to listen to in one sitting and I didn’t want to stop listening until the end.

If you are looking for a great book with great characters then you need to listen to this book. I am looking forward to listening to the next book by this author and narrator.

A Review copy was provided to me in exchange for a fair and honest review. The free book held no determination on my personal review.

Excellent Austenesque Fiction, Talented Narrator

Would you consider the audio edition of He Taught Me to Hope: Darcy and the Young Knight's Quest to be better than the print version?

Yes, I would consider this to be better than the print version. Voice actor Pearl Hewitt brings a quality to the text that my mind would not have generated on its own. She makes clear distinctions between characters and seems to have a solid understanding of the rhythms of Austenesque fiction. While her British accent is very strong and took a little while for my ear to adjust to it, her tone is very aristocratic and brings cultural veracity to the story.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Elizabeth Bennet Carlton would be my favorite character of the novel. She is navigating some very interesting waters-- the death of her first husband, being engaged to a man who proves to not be the best choice for her, meeting the amazing Fitzwilliam Darcy after her engagement, and mothering her young son Ben. She must deal with the gossiping social circles which speculate on her relationships and she must constantly have her values in mind as she acts. What is best for her as a woman? But what is also best for Ben? Ultimately she must be able to take care of her son, but must she go into a loveless marriage, too?

Which character – as performed by Pearl Hewitt – was your favorite?

I would have to say Darcy was my favorite character as performed by Pearl Hewitt. She brought a tenderness mixed with masculinity that I found believable, although she naturally has a lovely feminine voice. During romantic scenes, I was not distracted by the fact that it was a woman reading a man's lines.

If you could take any character from He Taught Me to Hope: Darcy and the Young Knight's Quest out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Of all the characters of the book, I would probably take Anne De Bourgh out to dinner. On one hand, she seems to be frequently sickly and probably could use a good meal! On another hand, she needs to be given a stern talking-to. The woman is delusional and needs someone to wake her up and see reality! She thinks she's engaged to Darcy, and is so committed to this fact, she nearly does herself irreparable harm. She seems to be a changed woman in the end, so perhaps after the story is over, if our dinner occurred then, it would be interesting to hear her side of the story, how she came to finally understand why she would never be with Darcy. Either way-- whether with pre-enlightenment or post-enlightenment Anne, she would be an interesting dinner date.

Any additional comments?

P.O. Dixon is a quality Austenesque writer. I look forward to not only more of her work, but more of Pearl Hewitt's as well.

Clever twist to my favorite Austen characters

Where does He Taught Me to Hope: Darcy and the Young Knight's Quest rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This story is one of my favorites. I have now listened to this audible several times and enjoy how P.O. Dixon has given a twist to the relationship between Elizabeth and her father as well as how Darcy views Elizabeth and little Ben.

Which character – as performed by Pearl Hewitt – was your favorite?

I enjoyed the way Pearl Hewitt interpreted the different characters but especially young Bennet.

Any additional comments?

The story does a good job incorporating a twist to Elizabeth's past. It is very sweet how Darcy and young Ben bond. I am enjoying this story line and how it's developing.

a novel of manners from a modern perspective

Over the past few years, I have noticed a number of “fan fiction” works inspired by the brilliant prose of Jane Austin, particularly her Pride And Prejudice. I have been curious to see whether modern writers could approach her writing skill, and just how modern writers would manage novels of manners. While I won’t be visiting this sub-genre much, this book was well written, and retained much of the grace of the original. One thing that I did find interesting, and even endearing was that, even though this story is told from a more modern perspective, it was true to the nature of 19th century novels, in that it was never quite explicit, while still managing to present intimacy, mostly through implication and innuendo.

The story itself is well told, and kept my interest throughout the book. This was due, in no small part, to very good character development and presentation, especially of the main characters. True, many of the young ladies reminded me of chattering sparrows, and reading about them was more tolerable than having to associate with them (just), but they flitted in and out of the main story so didn’t distract.

Such novels are a pleasant change from time to time, just as are occasional afternoons spent in ornate tea rooms, enjoying a full English tea with friends.

The narrator provided a professional narration in all ways, although some of the “sparrows” tended to be indistinguishable.

I received this book in exchange for this unbiased review from Audiobookblast dot com.

Lovely story

The real hero of this story is young Ben, he's adorable and I was invested in him from the beginning of the story. Elizabeth is frustrating as she toys with Darcy and seems to play mind games with him, but overall I really enjoyed the story. The reading performance is very good except for the voice of the Earl, it is overdone and exaggerated to the point it makes the story seem slightly ridiculous. It's the first book I have by P.O.Dixon, but it won't be the last.