Madness in Meryton

A Pride & Prejudice Variation

By: Jayne Bamber

Narrated by: Amanda S. Brown

When Jane and Elizabeth Bennet return home from Netherfield, two days of heavy rain confine them indoors with their unruly younger sisters, a mother in perpetual need of smelling salts, and the tedious Mr. Collins. When the rain clears, the ladies from Longbourn and the gentlemen from Netherfield are drawn to Meryton by the excitement of Market Day, setting in motion a series of significant events.

That night, Mrs. Phillips hosts a card party for officers of the local militia, where the charming Mr. Wickham tells Elizabeth his shocking history with Mr. Darcy, a man who has only given Elizabeth offense since coming to stay with his friend Mr. Bingley at Netherfield.

The next day, the same thing happens again.

And again, the day after that - and so on, for what begins to feel like an eternity. Elizabeth takes increasingly drastic measures to further the budding romance between her beloved sister Jane and their handsome neighbor Mr. Bingley. Along the way, she arranges improvements in the lives of all of her family, in a effort to end the relentless redundancy that only she seems aware of.

As Elizabeth’s frustration turns to madness, she soon realizes that her inexplicable dilemma is somehow connected to a certain officer and a certain gentleman of her acquaintance....

Elizabeth must forge unlikely alliances and devote her considerable wit to the task of achieving a perfect day for those she holds dear, while facing familiar Fitzwilliam friends and foes, as well as all the mortification and delight of falling in love.

©2020 Jayne Bamber (P)2021 Jayne Bamber

Great book.

When the day repeats over and over again until they get it right. So many twists and turns. A web of things that are connected. Interesting ending. Could not foresee that. I highly recommend this book to a Jane Austen fan fiction lover.

The Best "Groundhog Day" Variation

This is without question my favorite of the Pride and Prejudice variations to tackle this kind of plot. It so expertly weaves together all of the characters major and minor and had several genuine surprises for me throughout.

I especially enjoyed Colonel Fitzwilliam in this variation, he was so much fun. Caroline Bingley even has a believable and well done arc that I really enjoyed, it wasn't over the top one way or the other like some of them can be.

As always Ms. Bamber truly utilizes the full cast of characters given in Pride and Prejudice and it makes it all the more fun.

I was really and truly impressed by this and if you are looking at it thinking "Ugh I've read this one before, or similar enough" then trust me you're wrong.

I also really loved the narrator, everyone had a distinct voice and she even brought a but of theatrics to her reading that really added to the story.

I would give it 100 stars if I could, well done!

Delightful!

This one left me with a huge grin at the end. One of my favorite endings of the JAFF genre. A truly enjoyable variation.

Absolutely wonderful

This is an excelente Jaff. True to Jane Austen, funny and intriguing. One of the best I have read

Great fun - Pride & Prejudice meets Groundhog Day!

Great fun - Pride & Prejudice meets Groundhog Day! would definitely listen to it again.

How to Fix the Unfixable?

This is an entertaining Groundhog’s Day JAFF that has Elizabeth and Darcy attempting to unravel the mischief of a strange Roma woman who has seemingly placed them in a time loop….living the same day over and over. At first each believes they are alone in the strange phenomenon and try to discover what they must do to break out of the loop. Eventually they realize the other is also involved and they team up to solve the mystery.

Each also tries to involve a trusted companion and eventually one of these also begins to be trapped in the same day. What will it take to free themselves? Who can assist them to figure it all out? And what villains find their reclamation along the way?

Groundhog day!

Loved this story. Then again I love time travel. So this was perfect. Also Caroline Bingley has feelings too.

One of the best variations yet...

I loved this Groundhogs Day twist!! Very well written and the characters were believable for the most part. I especially loved the couple pairings at the end. Nicely done!

Wonderful Surprise

I resisted listening to this since I was expecting a trite JAFF mashup of P&P meets Groundhog Day.

Instead, this was a wonderful retelling that took advantage of the “extra” days due to the numerous repeats of November 20th to add depth to each character. We got to get a longer “visit” with several main characters and got to know them as well as ODC.

There were some lovely surprises as well. One other couple finds love, and although we’ve occasionally seem them matched up before in other stories, in this one, it’s not that they are just thrown together, we see why they are great together.

I’ve added to my Favorites for times I want a fun listen with heart.

Made me actually like one of P&P's villains

Wow, absolutely fantastic plot and brilliant narration. I have read/listened to an abundance of P&P adaptations and this might be one of my favorites. I always love getting more of Colonel Fitzwilliam and was actually pleasantly surprised with his own story line. I found myself actually liking a few characters I've never liked before and even rooting for one by the end. As always Elizabeth and Darcy shone like guiding stars who are inherently set on a collision course of humor, misunderstandings and love. I will look at more by both the author and narrator who did a wonderful job. I look forward to a relisten of this one.