Return to Longbourn

The Next Chapter in the Continuing Story of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

By: Shannon Winslow

Narrated by: Marian Hussey

Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

What will happen to the Bennet females now that Mr. Bennet has died? With Mr. Tristan Collins on his way from America to claim his property, Mrs. Bennet hatches her plan. The new heir to Longbourn simply must marry one of her daughters. Nothing else will do. Will it be Mary or Kitty singled out for this dubious honor? When the gentleman in question turns out to be quite a catch after all, the contest between the sisters is on. Which one will be the next mistress of Longbourn? Or will a dark horse step in to muddy the picture? Darcy, Elizabeth, and the rest of the Pride and Prejudice cast are back as the socially awkward Mary emerges from the shadows to take center stage in Shannon Winslow's long-awaited sequel to her best-selling novel, The Darcys of Pemberley.

Many Austen fans have a soft spot in their hearts for Mary and wonder if she might have the hidden makings of a heroine. Now, in Return to Longbourn, we learn what really makes her tick. Is she destined to be a governess forever, or will she overcome the misfortune of being 'plain' to find love and her own happy ending?

©2013 Shannon Winslow (P)2013 Shannon Winslow

A wonderful continuation to Pride and Prejudice

What made the experience of listening to Return to Longbourn the most enjoyable?

Just a wonderful story about the characters I fell in love with in Pride and Prejudice. It was wonderful to find that all the Bennett women find love and adventure in their lives.

What did you like best about this story?

Mary falling in love with Mr. Farnsworth, especially when it look like she would never find someone.

Which scene was your favorite?

I love the scene when Mr. Farnsworth tries to fluster Mary, but instead she puts him in his place without even raising her voice.

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

Love for everyone.

Any additional comments?

This was a great conclusion to the many questions I had after reading Pride and Prejudice. I can't think of anything else I would want to know.

Decent but not fabulous Jane Austen knock-off

Any additional comments?

This is an amusing and well narrated story based on Jane Austen characters. The writing is mostly fine, but there are some lamentable lapses in diction, for example, a character says: "The thing of it is..." I find these stylistic lapses inexcusable. Even a single read-through of Jane Austen's novels should be enough that the author would know to write "The plain fact is" instead of "The thing of it is..."

That said, lovers of Jane Austen will probably enjoy this lively story that features many of the familiar faces of Pride and Prejudice.

Mary takes center stage.

very nice to have a story with the main characters as a backdrop. they really don't play that large a part (Elizabeth and Darcy) but rather Mary is the lead in this story and the story line around her is very creative and plausible and satisfying. great job.

Better than the other books in this series but not great

The authors use of Jane Austen’s dialog from Pride and Prejudice is irritating. She once again adds a scene of a possible rape, which does not belong in this genre.

Austen fans might enjoy

When one reads alll Jane Austen and know there aren’t any more left, one looks for fan fiction. Enjoyable read.

Lovely Continuation to Pride and Prejudice

I feel this continuation would make Jane Austen proud. I loved that all the sisters' lives ended so well. The story is complete for me. The narrator did an excellent performance and was very persuasive with all the voices of each character. I would love more books by Shannon Winslow!

Not Quite Mary

An overlooked character in the original story, Mary becomes the centre of the new story, and in the process, the reader gets to see other aspects of her personality. It all seems quite fine premises to have a new story on, except that this Mary isn’t quite the Mary of Pride and Prejudice. That Mary was foolish, shallow and given to much self-importance and pomposity. It is hard to believe that in a few years’ time, she would become a stoic, sensible lady respected for her wisdom and learning. Time may change the amount of one’s knowledge, but would it add so much to one’s intelligence and strength of character?

It also appears that plot had to make several logical leaps, and these decreased its plausibility. Still, it is satisfying to arrive at a happy ending, even if it comes across as contrived. By the way, as the story focuses on Mary’s plight and adventures, fans of the other characters, like Elizabeth, would find that they have been reduced to bland, functional roles who merely keep the story going.

Hussey's performance helped to lift the story out of its mediocrity though. It was a delight to hear how her rich, warm voice conveyed all the different moods and emotions of the various scenes.

I really wanted to like it

Would you try another book from Shannon Winslow and/or Marian Hussey?

The material was just not well written. The writing felt very "tried" and was copy paste directly from Jane. The author tries to claim the copy/paste to be intentional to show admiration for Jane, but the affect falls far too short. The reviews give away the story, so it's really about the journey and this was a bit of a rough ride.

Has Return to Longbourn turned you off from other books in this genre?

The reader was excellent.

Thoroughly enjoyed!

I thoroughly enjoyed this continuation of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. It was well written and performed. If you liked Pride and Prejudice, I highly recommend it!

great continuation!

Ms Winslow has made the storyline seamless between the original Pride and Prejudice! I throughly enjoyed both books!!!

Wonderful. Does Jane Austen proud

Excellent narrator. Lizzie Darcy especially sounds like Jennifer Ehle's performance of the 1994 tv series. Great writer wish there were more in this series. If you love Pride and Prejudice you'll love this too!! Just one criticism. In England we don't have 'Fall' we have 'Autumn"

A little bit of a letdown.

I recently listened to The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow, which made me curious to see other takes on Mary's adventures after Pride and Prejudice. I have listened to The Darcys of Pemberly previously and found it okay.

My first issue with this book is that it begins in the future, some years after Pride and Prejudice (and The Darcys of Pemberly), with Mary presumably having "learned from her past mistakes". Mary is presented as a very altered person therefore, but all the change has happened "off stage", which effectively presents a Mary that seems disjointed from the Mary we know. She shares elements with P&P Mary, but we are to believe that something made her grow - we are just never told about what caused this initial and quite crucial character growth.

The second thing I can say without spoiling is that I hate the chapter titles. They seem down right juvenile at points and sometimes they even spoil the chapter to come. I would have far preferred if the chapters were just numbered.

Now for the SPOILERS!!!

_________SPOILERS AHEAD__________


I did not find Mary's romantic arch enjoyable or believable in the slightest. It's not there until suddenly, BOOM, it's there. I get that feelings can creep up on you, but I just found no enjoyment in Mary's conversations with Mr F. I have a feeling the author was trying to create a man similar to Mr Bennet, but Mr F came off as annoying, arrogant, and sometimes even cruel. It seemed so unbelievable that Mary should fall for a man like that and I wasn't rooting for them to get together at all. I also got the feeling in the beginning of the book that Mary disliked two of the three children, who she has looked after for 4 years at that point, but all of a sudden that dislike is forgotten. I found myself losing interest before the book was over because of the pairing between Mary and Mr F. and I might have gagged a little when Elizabeth made an overt sex joke to Mr Darcy - tasteless and so out of place and it reminded me why I never relistened to The Darcys of Pemberly.

All in all, this seemed like a bad fanfiction. I understand that all P&P adaptations are essentially fanfiction, but this seemed like the bad kind with very little respect for the source material.

Brilliant!

The story tells of what happens next to Mary :) it's great very true to the character of Mary and writings and language of Jane
Highly recommended

FAB-U-LOUS!

Any additional comments?

If you loved Pride and Prejudice you will love this.... I was a little sceptical after reading the reviews but decided to give it a try... and I am so pleased I did. Although a little predictable it left me with that warm fuzzy feeling that all in the world is alright. I totally recommend.

P&P sequel & Jane Eyre for good measure

Where does Return to Longbourn rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Of those focusing on Austen, one of the very best.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

. Yes! And I did... couldn't turn it off. Beautifully written and delightfully performed

Any additional comments?

It was fascinating to discover the swan hiding inside Mary, the ugly duckling of the Bennet family.

An interesting addition to the world of Pride and Prejudice.

Enjoyable - it's good to see Mary having a happy ending - but the author needs to be careful not to introduce jarring Americanisms such as "lay" instead of "lie", "pled" in place of "pleaded" and worst of all, the appalling word "snuck". I don't think that Jane Austen would have approved and she would surely have been puzzled by reference to Mary's "subconscious" . Also, Spain for the honeymoon and walking on the beach? I'm not sure about those. Generally good reading, but I'm not sure if "cowering" someone instead of " cowing" them was a mistake by the author or by the performer.

Love!

Pride and Prejudice is one of my favourite novels. So much so I didn’t want the story to end so took the plunge, bought the audio book and ended up loving it. Only slight criticism is that it goes into a bit too much detail in the bedroom to be entirely consistent of Austen’s style but none the less I’m really glad I read it and couldn’t stop listening! Definitely recommend.

ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!

If you're an ardent fan of all things 'Bennet' you should love this! very well narrated too! i was quite inmersed and felt 'there', as I listened! ♡

A satisfactory conclusion

I have really enjoyed this sequel. It gave a positive and deserving conclusion to our Bennet sisters and their mother.

Great

Really enjoyed this audio book the narrator is fantastic. I enjoyed the story and all the nods to Jane Austen’s phrases. Would recommend.