Mrs. Gardiner Takes a Hand

A Pride and Prejudice Variation

By: Jeannie Peneaux

Narrated by: Liz May Brice

Mrs. Bennet and her sister are bound for Bath to take the waters. The mistress of Longbourn could not part from her duties if it were not for Mrs. Gardiner of Gracechurch Street. At Elizabeth’s request, her favorite aunt has offered to take up residence for the few months Mrs. Bennet is absent. Mrs. Bennet may doubt that her brother’s wife could manage her family even half as well as she, but as she considers the attractions of Bath, she assures herself that no permanent alterations could possibly be made.

Aunt Gardiner hopes otherwise.

Mrs. Gardiner Takes a Hand, the seventh Pride and Prejudice variation by Jeannie Peneaux, is an epistolary novel. Letters are sent to the most surprising people and read with varying degrees of alarm and pleasure.

©2023, 2024 Jeannie Peneaux (P)2024 Jeannie Peneaux

Love Mrs. Gardiner

Mrs. Gardiner comes to Longbourne to take over for Mrs. Bennett, who is away for about three months taking care of her sick sister. Mrs. G can do what Mrs. Bennett has failed to do in raising the girls. Lydia finds out about consequences. Idleness and silliness are discouraged at Mrs. G''s Longbourn. Meantime, Mrs. Bennett finds herself in trouble due to her silliness and arrogance. This is an amusing and interesting story. I enjoyed the format of the story being told by letters from the various characters.

Truly Excellent

Oh, I absolutely loved this book, which is from start to finish written as an epistolary. Elizabeth first writes to her Aunt Gardiner, encouraging her to come to Longbourn to aid in the recovery of her little cousin Meg’s health, and aid the family when her mother and Mrs. Philips go to bath for the latter’s health.

The brilliantly-written correspondence among the various characters of Pride and Prejudice will delightfully entertain you. It’s filled with the efforts of Mrs. Gardiner in attempting to lovingly and tactfully guide the residents of Longbourn. A little reverse psychology doesn’t hurt either. Many humorous exchanges and descriptions within the correspondence.

No spoilers for this one. It’s a definite must read from the author of JAFF favourite, Dear Nameless Stranger. Most definitely recommend.

The narrator of this audiobook, Liz May Brice, is new to me. I must say how entertaining and engaging she made a 100% epistolary sound completely conversational, performing all the individual letter writers’ characters in a more than charming manner. I thoroughly enjoyed her and would not hesitate to purchase another audiobook she performs. Well done!

Mrs Gardiner

Lovely story! New narrator for this listener, very well done. Will look for more of her work.

Phenomenal Narration

It’s an absolutely charming novel. Imaginative, original, and beautifully written. The narration takes it to a further level of excellence. Each character is skillfully brought to life twice over: once by the author and again vividly by the narrator. I rarely write reviews but for this one I had to rave. It’s phenomenal and you will have no regrets for reading it.

Charming and Perfect

Jeannie Peneaux has given us another epistolary gem. I have been reading Pride and Prejudice variations since 2019, and I just can't get enough of them. "Dear Nameless Stranger" (also by Peneaux) has been my favorite of the lot. I have read the text version and listened to the audiobook over and over again, so when I saw "Mrs. Gardiner Takes a Hand," I immediately handed over a credit and dove right in.

Liz May Brice is a wonderful narrator and sets the right tone for each of the letters. Peneaux has fashioned a unique variation by asking, "What if the Mesdames Bennet and Phillips went away on holiday and left Mrs. Gardiner to keep house for the Bennets?"

It is utterly brilliant.

Elizabeth and Darcy find a different route to happiness. Mrs. Bennet gets up to mischief in the very best and most entertaining ways. Lydia learns self-restraint and perspective. Kitty blossoms with a little encouragement. Mary has depths we never got to explore in the original novel. Mr. Collins has a very witty sister, and the way his tale plays out is both comical and satisfying. Mr. Bennet learns his lessons, Lady Catherine meets her match, and our happily ever after is one of the sweetest this genre could provide.

I was thoroughly entertained throughout, and everything ends precisely when and as it should. Absolutely top tier JAFF. Have a listen. You won't regret purchasing this one.

Delightful low angst P & P retelling

Mrs. Gardiner is the fairy godmother who brings functionality back into the Bennet’s dysfunctional household. The sisters, under her aegis, take their futures into their own hands. HEA’s ensue.

Thankfully, NOT another virtual voice narrator! Excellent human narration and story!

This has been one of the most fun and well written pride and prejudice variations I’ve had the pleasure of reading! The story told through characters writing letters to each other was so much fun to hear play out. I admit that when I first started listening and realized the story was told through letters, I almost skipped it. Boy am I glad I didn’t do that! The letters were great! I loved getting to hear what was going on in the head of each character. The narrator was great, giving each character’s voice a unique set of qualities to make it very easy to know who was who. I’m getting so frustrated with the virtual voice stories on Audible that just aren’t worth the listening time. There’s no comparison with how much better a real person reading the story is to the virtual voice narration. I was so excited to find a pride and prejudice variation I hadn’t heard yet with a human narrator, and am happy to report this one’s a winner!

What a hoot!

This book is in the format of letters exchanged by multiple characters and the narration was done very well. This will be one I will listen to again. There were so many things that happened that made me laugh!!! Oh Mr Collins and his choice of wife!!!

Overall great read

The Gardiner's are favorite characters and this highlights them so well. I loved the letter format. This is my first listen with this narrator and I thought she was excellent and look forward to hearing her interpretation again. Good chuckles and satisfying interaction of characters made this a great read. Will listen to again.

Good, if a bit stunted

This was a good variation. However the epistolary nature of the story creates a rather stunted plot. There is no free flowing description of events. We get bits and pieces from various perspectives on various events and sometimes not in order. Such is the nature of actual letters, but for the structure of a book, it is a bit difficult to follow.