The Exile: Kitty Bennet and the Belle Epoque (Benet Wardrobe Series Book 3)

By: Don Jacobson, A Lady

Narrated by: Amanda Berry

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's Summary

Longbourn, December 1811. 

The day after Jane and Lizzy marry dawns especially cold for young Kitty Bennet. Called to Papa’s bookroom, she is faced with a resolute Mr. Bennet who intends to punish her complicity in her sister’s elopement. She will be sent packing to a seminary in far-off Cornwall. 

She reacts like any teenager chafing under the “burden” of parental rules - she throws a tantrum. In her fury, she slams her hands against the doors of The Bennet Wardrobe. 

Her heart’s desire?

"I wish they were dead! Anywhere but Cornwall! Anywhere but here!"

As Lydia later said, “The Wardrobe has a unique sense of humor.”

London, May 1886. 

Seventeen-year-old Catherine Marie Bennet tumbles out of The Wardrobe at Matlock House to come face-to-face with the austere Viscount Henry Fitzwilliam, a scion of the Five Families and one of the wealthiest men in the world. However, while their paths may have crossed that May morning, Henry still fights his feelings for another woman, lost to him nearly thirty years in his future. And Miss Bennet must now decide between exile to the remote wastelands of Cornwall or making a new life for herself in Victorian Britain and Belle Époque France.

The Exile follows the story of Kitty Bennet as she grows from the coughing follower of her younger sister, Lydia, into a bright and engaging young woman living in the exciting world of the late 19th century. However, she must pass through many trials before she can fully understand why the Wardrobe sent her 75 years into the future - and for her to become one of the most important fixtures in the Bennet Wardrobe Universe.

The Bennet Wardrobe Series has been named Best Series of 2017 by More Agreeably Engaged!

©2017 Donald P. Jacobson (P)2018 Donald P. Jacobson

Serious, richly layered, and surprising

So much happens in the story, and so many characters show up to help establish the time frame and add dimension. I loved the surprise guest characters, and the layers of this story that seem to hint and lead into a more layered overarching story to come.