A Most Attentive Mother

By: Jann Rowland

Narrated by: Mary Sarah

A must-listen from the author of In Default of Heirs Male.

©2022 Jann Rowland (P)2022 Tantor

Excellent story

This is my favorite lady Catherine story of all time. The complex story line kept me entertained while not following the P&P usual retelling. Lady Catherine is much younger and comes into the Bennet family when the girls are younger. The fitzwilliam family is greatly expanded which brings much to the plot. This is not to be missed!
The narrator was awesome.

LOVED this take on all characters!

First off, yes, the narrator's voice takes getting used to, with the softness with which she speaks. But once you adjust, you'll find she does a lovely job. :) She has narrated several books for this author and I enjoy her work.

While there is a significant amount of worldbuilding in this P&P variation, it is based upon 2 premises: first, that Lady Catherine is the daughter of the earl's second wife and is much younger than her siblings, and second that she encountered and married Mr. Bennet after they were both widowed when Jane was 15.

Because the earl had essentially married one of Lady Anne Darcy's friends, most of the Fitzwilliam siblings opposed the marriage and disliked Catherine's mother, and the two went to live with the Darcy's when the elder earl died. This resulted in Catherine and Darcy having the relationship of siblings/close cousins. But the way that Catherine is treated by some of her siblings influences her to think less of herself as an all-knowing and supremely venerable being and more as a knowledgeable and respected lady who ought to intervene where propriety allows to help people be their best.

She influences all but Wickham of the original main cast to work on their flaws, and while she is still often officious she is not outright interfering, and her faults are openly acknowledged. She doesn't swoop in to change all, but gives advice and small hints and encouragement to help others do the work for themselves (most of the time). Importantly, antagonized are not fully villainized in the end.

A wonderful listen I couldn't leave paused!

Great story from start to finish

Really enjoyed this portrayal of Lady Catherine and and Mr Bennett as a couple. They worked so well together. And the whole Fitzwilliam family dynamic was just… well read the book and enjoy finding out.

Hard to listen to reader.

It was difficult to listen to the reader’s affected accents and exaggerated cadences. Several times I almost stopped listening because her thickly pronounced consonants often sounded sickly sweet and contrived.

Sweet Lady Katherine

While I was happy for the family to gain a sweet lady Katherine I was distracted by the narrator. She had a dreamy sweet voice like quality that made it really difficult to follow the story. During most of the dialogue it was fine. Also she had a lisp or something and it was annoying. The story was good though

Nice Twist on P & P Variation

In this story Lady Catherine is only 6-years Darcy's senior and she is the youngest daughter of the Earl of Matlock's second marriage. Lady Catherine marries Mr. Bennett after both of their spouses pass away. She adopts the Bennet girls as her own and is very protective of them. I enjoyed the unfolding of the story line. it was well worth the read to see how new and traditional characters intermingled. I was not fond of the performance. I struggled to hear and understand the actress. It sounded like she was whispering though 75% of the reading plus she substituted the /th/ sound in words the ended in /t/ and /d/ particularly at the end of a sentence which drove me a bit mad. Other than the performance, the content was good.

Too long. Boring.

Too many added characters. No clever dialogue. I like the original premise, but took too long to tell the story and got boring. The narrator wasn’t great.

Narration was annoying

I like the story and listen until the end, but the whisper breath of the narrator was really annoying. I probably wouldn’t start another book if she was narrating it.

A Most Astounding Twist of Beloved Characters to Shine

Of all the best sides of P&P imaginings this writer takes us a ride of what’s possible. Mr Bennet finds the love of his life, Lady Kathryn’s strong personality, after a dreadfully abusive 1st marriage finds such happiness in overwhelming love from her perfect mate & his (5) girls, her Ann to create a dream family adding Georgianna into their mix.Mr Bennet & she establishes a mix of family that works together, joys of life & new direction with goals. A marvelous blended family, envied & captivates the Earl, Countess & all the Fitzwilliam’s extended family, a very tight surround of the First Circle. A true fantasy of could have been … The best of Variations both Author& Narrator, adored the Read/Audio.

loved the story but not the audio quality

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. the only reason it doesn't get 5 starts overall is the audio quality. I give 5 stars for the story itself but 3 for the performance. The narrator has a mostly monotonous style which I felt didn't add much to the story. However, the bigger problem with the narration was the audio quality. There's some issue with any word containing t, p, d, s or the; especially words ending with these letters. It was a huge annoyance.