When Summer Never Came

A Pride & Prejudice Variation (Pride and Prejudice "What If?" Variations)

By: Tiffany Thomas

Narrated by: Harry Frost

Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

In this Pride & Prejudice variation, a worldwide disaster of epic proportions causes Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet to meet under extraordinary circumstances. In this retelling of Jane Austen's famous work, will Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth find their happily ever after?

In April 1815, the volcano Mount Tambora erupted in Indonesia. It affected the climate so that in 1816, there was cold and snow throughout the summer all across the world.

How would Pride & Prejudice be different if it had erupted 10 years earlier, drastically altering the climate across the world? Would Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy still find one another in a year when summer never came?

Elizabeth Bennet has just experienced one of the most difficult years of her entire life. The loss of a beloved sister, a failed harvest, and the threat of freezing to death from a bitterly cold winter cause the inhabitants of Longbourn to do the unthinkable.

Meanwhile, Fitzwilliam Darcy is desperate to keep his family and his tenants alive. The scarcity of food due to a freezing summer has him taking extreme measures. His radical idea takes him, along with his friend Charles Bingley, to Netherfield, where his drastic experiment has the potential to save them all - or ruin his life forever.

Will the changed circumstances cause Elizabeth and Darcy to come together in unity? Or will his pride and her prejudice remain alive, in spite of the terrible circumstances that are a result of the year without summer?

When Summer Never Came is a full-length, sweet regency romance novel of 130,000 words that is a variation of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. Unlike Tiffany Thomas' other novels, this one does not have a trigger warning.

©2022 Tiffany Thomas (P)2023 Tiffany Thomas

The history of an actual event

I love the variations of P&P that are completely different than the original. It’s boring to read the same story over and over again. This was the perfect example of a changed story while keeping the original personality of the characters in tact. Brava!

A worldwide disaster of epic magnitude has all people rich and poor at the mercy of the weather. How fragile life is that a single event can change the world. I very much enjoyed this book. I like to learn something new when reading fiction and this one delivered. I did further research to find out more about the events related to the story. It must have been a very difficult time in history. Many people and animals died of starvation so sad.

A Satisfyingly long saga the premise deserved

The historical event this story takes its premise from is one that I wish I could see more often in historical fiction of the Regency era. The event impacted nearly every part of society. However it takes on the importance that of a character all its own so the author has a weight on their shoulders to pull it off well. Tiffany Thomas nailed it here.

I loved this for so many reasons. The Year Without a Summer pulled so many threads in the canon Pride and Prejudice that changed many of our dear characters’ lives yet the changes all felt genuine and realistic.

Darcy and Elizabeth’s story was impacted by the times that challenged everyone, but much of their drama was due to their own misunderstanding. This part of the story I could have done without, it’s not my favorite relationship development in variation fiction.
I still loved their happy ending and I loved the other characters’ roads to their happily ever afters. I’m always ready for new‘pairings,’ and there were some good ones here, especially Charlotte Lucas, Mary Bennett, and Colonel Fitzwilliam.

As I stated this book was satisfyingly long as it took place over nearly a year’s time. When I think of living through that kind of experience here in our own time I shudder to think how frightening that would be. Triple or quadruple the situation that the recent pandemic caused us and we might come close to how awful it would be.

I will definitely want to listen to this again after some time has passed. I highly recommend it. The narration was so good. I’m so glad to see Thomas’s books coming to audio. I love her work.

realistic dialog

Good twist
of the conventional story of Jane Austen's novel. Entertaining and enjoyable. Worth listening to.

Excellent premise!

This story takes a piece of world history and expounds on it to provide an excellent JAFF. Of course, Harry Frost is an excellent narrator!

Interesting

I enjoyed hearing how the people dealt with the severe cold. The first of the book was excellent, but it bogged down in the last quarter. The back and forth between Elizabeth and Darcy became tiring. Actually, Elizabeth was not very likable. The other three sisters (Kitty was deceased from the beginning) were much more likable. Caroline's storyline was fun to listen to. Mr. and Mrs Bennett were also fun to keep up with. I loved Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Bennett was a better person than she usually is in the variations. Harry Frost is one of the best narrators in the business and he did his usual excellent performance in this book.

What if Darcy Didn't Have "Ten Thousand a Year?"

I found this one really unique and interesting. I've read and/or listened to more than fifty JAFF titles since 2019 when I first discovered the genre. This one definitely belongs in the top quarter of the pile. I bought it because if I see Harry Frost's name as the narrator, I don't even have to check the summary before I spend a credit. This one, however, was enjoyable on its own merits. I recommend it whole-heartedly.

Ms. Thomas really should've had an editor remove about 2/3 of her references to someone "rolling his/her eyes." It was distracting at times, coming multiple times in the space of one or two pages. I don't mind the description, but it was so repetitive that it occasionally jerked me out of the story, and in several places, it was just plain inappropriate.

Caroline Bingley is cartoonish in this story, and the reactions of those around her are unrealistic in the extreme several times. That said, it's easy enough to overlook as Miss Bingley doesn't take up a lot of real estate in the major plot points.

Finally, I really wish authors in this genre would stop manufacturing angst for its own sake. Earn the angst or leave it out. The story was going along so beautifully and everyone's motives make complete sense. Then we get slammed with manufactured angst that destroys the momentum of the story for a detour into pointless turmoil. Sigh.

Even so, this story is original enough that I just *rolled my eyes* and let it go.

I love the premise here, and it's definitely a whole new angle that no one has ever used before. As a history geek, I always approve of using events like the 1815 eruption (earth hadn't seen its like since 536AD) to ask creative "what if" questions in a familiar fictional world. This novel shows us a Darcy completely devoid of the pride he suffered from in the original novel and, instead, puts him in a situation of tremendous responsibility and financial uncertainty. It's an entirely different pressure cooker for our hero in this one, and I think Ms. Thomas did a marvelous job exploring what that might have looked like.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and it doesn't get better than Harry Frost for narration. Quite credit-worthy. Give it a go.

Year without summer trope

Another great listen from Harry Frost. I find his character interpretations are among the best in narration. This is one of those books I feel presents even better via audiobook.

This is one of a few Pride and Prejudice variations I have read that takes place during the “year without summer”, and in this regard, the plot played out well, with the main families of the story taking great pains to make it through such a difficult time.

I thought this was an enjoyable story, but not exactly because of ODC, especially Elizabeth. Always too judgmental when it comes to Darcy, I felt she was a bit hypocritical in her dealings with him. No, he wasn’t perfect with his “Master-of-Pemberley-large-and-in-charge-persona”, but neither was Elizabeth perfect. I thought she was overly severe with him, even though he admitted fault. It’s not until the end of the book for them to finally come to an understanding. Making it through this long story, I felt robbed of some good Darcy and Elizabeth time and felt a lack of romance. I liked the early part of their relationship best, but their ending left me wanting. There seemed a lack of good dialogue between them.

I think what I loved most about this book wasn’t about ODC, but rather the relationship of the Bennet sisters. When the book opens, they are in mourning for Kitty who succumbed to pneumonia. The bond among the remaining sisters was well done. I also enjoyed the twists for Mr. Collins and Charlotte. The Hursts were very likable. Caroline’s twist was a surprise.

I enjoyed it and for those who like something a little different, I think this book fits that bill, especially with Harry’s brilliant narration.

When Summer Never Came

Really good story, if a wee bit too long. Narration by Mr. Harry Frost is outstanding, especially his character’s different voices.

Great read

I love this story. It must have been so hard for the people who actually went through it. Great narrating as well. Great Jaff