A Quick Succession of Busy Nothings

By: Jayne Bamber

Narrated by: Benjamin Fife

The Bertram family of Mansfield Park is forced to retrench and retreat to Purvis Lodge when the baronet’s heir, Tom Bertram, bankrupts the family with his extravagant spending and expensive debauchery. Oblivious to their ruin, their new neighbor Mrs. Bennet finds an agreeable friend in the indolent Lady Bertram, and hastily forms designs on the two Bertram sons for her daughters.

Mary and Henry Crawford leave Mansfield Parsonage for the Mayfair home of their friend Charles Bingley, and soon convince him to rent Netherfield Park and travel there with a large party of friends as well as his wily, widowed aunt, Lady Susan Vernon. Once again, Mrs. Bennet is overjoyed at the influx of eligible bachelors for her girls. Jane and Elizabeth Bennet are delighted to be reunited with their Crawford cousins, who shall in turn be reunited with the Bertrams. The bonds of the two eldest Bennet daughters and their cousins Mary and Henry Crawford are put to the test over the course of a summer filled with more fine society than Meryton has ever seen!

Mrs. Bennet has it all planned out, but hers are not the only matchmaking maneuvers being made in Meryton - the matrimony-obsessed matron has met her match in Lady Susan Vernon, a masterful manipulator who is infinitely Mrs. Bennet’s superior in subtlety, and who brings out the schemer in Mary Crawford. Even Mr. Bennet is tempted to a little light trickery of his own when Mr. Collins comes to town.Fitzwilliam Darcy wishes only to lift the spirits of his broken-hearted sister Georgiana and his bereaved cousin Richard, and in his efforts to cheer them he becomes embroiled in schemes, rescues, and is even compelled to participate in a theatrical production because it pleases the ones he loves - including the bewitching Elizabeth Bennet. Conflicting desires not only consume his mind, but begin to surround him as his companions at Netherfield all form opposing plans of their own, which threaten to keep any of them from a clear path to HEA.

©2024 Jayne Bamber (P)2024 Jayne Bamber

A Fun Adaptation

I loved this book. It is a wonderful Mashup of Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park. The story was fun and the narration was especially well done.

The narrator did a great job

This was a great mash-up of several Jane Austen characters. A very enjoyable take on these beloved stories

Likeable Crawfords!!

I did receive this book in exchange for an honest review. This was definitely an original storyline - Lizzy Bennet and Mary Crawford are similarly featured cousins. The cast of Mansfield Park meets the cast of Pride and Prejudice with the Crawfords being friends with Bingley and thus securing an invitation to Netherfield. The Bertrams move to the Meryton neighborhood as a result of Tom Bertram’s wastefulness. The Crawfords are still somewhat self-serving but do genuinely seem to care for the Bennet relations. The Bertrams are annoying and Edmund is a surprise but interesting as he’s actually awful in this!
Overall an excellent and unique story. The only reason not 5 stars on the performance was that this one is dialogue heavy between multiple characters which did occasionally require a rewind to verify which character was speaking.

So much fun!

One of the reasons I love Jayne Bamber is the fun and the characters. She usually writes with a whole cast of charaters so there is never a lull in her writing. I love how some of the characters get more depth and others express opinions I have always felt, but rarely hear.

This book did not disappoint in its delicious way it plays with the characters. The narration was excellent, with so many people to keep straight it takes someone that can do many different types of voices so you can keep them straight. Benjamin Fife did that very well! This was worth the credit.

Rehashing too much of the original

One of my favorite authors but I’m not sure where this effort is headed. Everyone is tiresome to some degree and for too long. There is a lot of rehashing of the more irritating scenarios especially with Mr. Collins and Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s shameful lack of respect for their daughters. Enough. It’s not entertaining to listen to such nasty unappealing behavior. Benjamin Fife makes it even worse. He is one of my least favorite narrators. He is very talented but to me he sounds like he’s holding his breath while talking through his nose. It is like nails on a chalkboard to me. Jayne Bamber is wonderful at dialogue which I value immensely but I found this one tedious.