The Long Journey Home: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

By: J. Dawn King

Narrated by: Stevie Zimmerman

Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

Love is being in the wrong place at the right time! Mistaken for someone else, Elizabeth and Darcy are kidnapped from a ballroom in Hertfordshire, England. Their only hope for freedom is to overcome their deeply set opinions of each other - to work as a team.

Against all odds, they each make extraordinary sacrifices to discover a love for the ages and find their way home.

The Long Journey Home is a perilous tale of adventure where Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, Jane Austen’s beloved heroes of Pride and Prejudice are forced to rely on each other for survival. This full-length regency novel is written by best-selling author, J Dawn King, who also writes as Christie Capps. The Long Journey Home is appropriate for all ages.

©2021 Quiet Mountain Press (P)2021 Quiet Mountain Press, LLC

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Quite enjoyable but left several loose ends. Quarter Master Boon's visit to Darcy House months after their kidnapping confirmed he had been hiding his identity but it sounded like he revealed himself to the Darcy's. Why was his true identity not revealed when it sounded like it was a big deal at the time? Did Quartermaster Boon or Captain Boon I should say ever look Jonah up after he moved to Nova Scotia? Who actually did the kidnapping of ODC? Supposedly it was another group of men that were not part of the Peregrine crew that did the kidnapping, who were they? I would have hoped they would have been captured and in the lot would be George Wickham. Oh well.

Great Jaff

What a story. Exiting and some angst. Well written and a great narrator. Well done J Dawn King.

A surprising novel

I was immediately loving the adventure of Darcy and Elizabeth. I look forward to another read.

Two Journeys for Me

December 6, 2021 - Audiobook
I enjoyed this book equally with the audio version. As always, Stevie Zimmerman is excellent as narrator. Her character performances never disappoint.

Book review from March 20, 2021
Hands and feet bound, Elizabeth Bennet awakens in a completely darkened space with her nose and chin pressed up against a wall. Wait! No! It is a man!

“Her inclination was to scream at the top of her lungs in hopes that someone would come to her salvation. Fear at waking the beast next to her kept her silent. Horror filled her; terror nipped at its heels. In vain she attempted to roll away.” (Quote from book.)

As she has come to discover, the wall is actually a man; a man she despises—Fitzwilliam Darcy. They have been mistaken for other people— drugged, kidnapped, robbed of their personal belongings and dumped on a ship to the Carolinas. What villainy is this?

This book involved more than one journey in my eyes. The word ‘journey’ is defined as “A traveling from one place to another, usually taking a rather long time”. It is also defined as “A passage or progress from one stage to another.” One could apply both definitions to the journey Darcy and Elizabeth embark upon in finding their way back home. To survive, will they learn to work together to remain safe and endure the physical journey, while simultaneously facing and resolving their past pride and prejudice towards one another? Two journeys.

As they begin to discern the dire circumstances which have been unwillingly forced upon them, Darcy sees their reality.

“Not since they left the safety of the Netherfield Park ballroom had he been in control. The loss shook him. He was as powerless as a swaddled babe.” (Quote from book.)

The first aspect of this journey is learning who is friend or foe, and their literal survival of life. In this, they first befriend the ship’s boy, Jonah Hackett, whom they come to love. After a near disaster at sea, the three friends find themselves on the coast of France in a time of war, and under the hospitality of Madame Vartan, believed to be a widow who hates Brits. However, she generously provides them food, clothing and shelter in exchange for work—like chopping wood, fetching water, cooking and cleaning. Work that ODC have never before been required to do and must quickly learn.

As they observe and get to know one another better, their relationship ‘progresses from one stage to another’—that of dislike to love, by seeing and coming to admire their true characters and willing to adjust their thinking, attitude, and actions towards others as well as each other. The proposal is wonderful! Can they now make their way back to England and home?

I loved the story and the new characters in this well-written page turner. It never lags, with good dialogue, and Darcy and Elizabeth moving quickly from one adventurous or dangerous situation to the next. You truly sense their fear, and rejoice in their becoming aware of who they are and what they mean to one another. The love story is always in the forefront. I even learned how the expression, ‘let the cat out of the bag’ may have originated. I highly recommend this excellent book.

I received an ARC of this book from the author and am freely providing my honest review. However, I also purchased the published version for my Kindle library.

Adventurous “What If”?

If you only like JAFF that sticks close to canon, move on, but you’ll be missing a good story!

This book begins far from the Netherfield Ball with Lizzie and Darcy captive aboard a ship at sea. I don’t think that’s much of a spoiler, considering the cover art. But they still hold the same issues of Pride and Prejudice that they need to overcome. Lizzie, however, must learn to trust Darcy with her very survival, which allows her to see his true character before trying to overcome her prior misconceptions.

J. Dawn King and Stevie Zimmerman join forces to give us a story with new characters, until close to the end. They are, however, wonderfully written and beautifully performed with all of the heart and feel of true JAFF.

Don’t miss the ride!

Really nice 🤩

I really liked this story 😁 it's the second I have listened to from this autor, and I have decided that I love her, I was weary of a "pirate" story, I didn't get how she was going to be true to Elisabeth and Darcy but it was really good and she didn't go in anyway out of character! If, like me, you adore pride and prejudice variations you have to get this one 😍

Wonderful story telling, wonderfully told

I lovely story, well written and beautifully narrated. Highly recommend. Always a good writer and a great narrator.

It was ok

This book was ok, but didn’t draw me in as much as some other Jane Austen Fan Fiction books. Stevie is usually a very good narrator, but her American accent was truly awful, and really detracted from my enjoyment of the book and was distracting. The plot wasn’t as exciting in the end as I had hoped it would be. The possibility is all there, but the delivery just lacked any magic.