The Best of Relations

A Pride and Prejudice Variation

By: Catherine Bilson

Narrated by: Catherine Bilson

Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

What if...Aunt Gardiner, who after all hailed from Lambton, was well-acquainted with the Darcy family, and knew of Wickham's misdemeanors? How would the story have been different?

This tale begins with an exchange of letters between Elizabeth Bennet and her favorite aunt, discussing the happenings in Hertfordshire as the Bennet family becomes acquainted with their new neighbors, the Bingleys and their house guest, Mr. Darcy.

©2015 Catherine Bilson (P)2021 Catherine Bilson

Enjoyable story but problematic narration

I very much enjoyed reading (and later hearing) this story especially the twist with Mrs Gardiner's character. She was given a slightly darker aspect, which is understandable given her circumstances. I think I must have a vengeful personality because I so want Wickham punished for his crimes more than just sent off to the Americas. (Another author successfully did that using the Colonel in a short aside at the end. It was chilling.)

However I cringed with the portrayal of male voices. In my imagination, Darcy (nor any of the other young men) does not have a gravely voice. All the male characters sounded like they were gargling or had throat problems. It really needs another person to convincingly vocalize the men.

Mrs Gardiner knows about Mr Wickham!

I had wondered why Aunt Gardiner didn't know what type of man George Wickham was if she grew up in Lambton. In this variation she does know. In painful detail. When Elizabeth writes to her about the charming Mr Wickham she drops everything and comes to visit immediately to warn the family. In a fun twist, she's also distantly related to the Darcys of Pemberly. Mr. Darcy's reaction when he comes face to face with her at the Netherfield ball is worth the price of the book. Get it!

Lovely, sweet entertaining story

This was so enjoyable The story was sweet and not full of unnecessary angst. Things went smoothly and the bad guys got what was due to them. Madeline Gardner was magnificent Mrs. Bennett even behaved herself. It was a true pleasure to listen to this. I bought it on sale, which is a good thing since it is only 3 and 1/2 hours long - a perfect length for the story. The author read the book and she did an excellent job, which is not always the case when authors also read the book. i am going to look to see if Catherine Bilson has written other books. I think she is very talented.

Enjoyed the story.

I liked the short angst free story. The narration was difficult to listen to at times. But I did enjoy the storyline.

Darcy’s relations are wider than he knows

Darcy’s relations include Mrs gardiner as a distant cousin and when he meets her at the Netherfield ball he has lots to apologize for.
I thought the story was entertaining and the characters portrayed well. I always thought a relation should check Darcy and the bonus is that same relation checks Elizabeth.

The Difficult Truth

The same person is the author and narrator. While the story is good, the reading is not. The author is a natural alto, reading towards the bottom of her range, so she can vary the women's voices somewhat by going higher, but to do the lower men's voices, she's got nothing to work with but gravel. Every male voice sounds the same, and I didn't find it an appealing voice. Rather than getting used to it as the book went on, I found it more difficult to listen to.

Story premise was a good one, and its execution enjoyable.

Low Angst and Unsurprising

Ms Bilson has written other enjoyable books and this one hits a low angst, nearly dull, mark. For JAFF readers that understand the characters there are no real surprises here. If you want a very easy listen, this is it. Her male voices are a little raspy so sample before you buy.

decent story, but

I appreciated the clean, well written story. however, the author did a very unfortunate disservice to all of the mail characters with her narration. she only had one voice for each of them. that voice was extremely rough, almost pirate-like. I fear it did damage to her throat