A Match Made at Matlock: A Sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
By: Jan Ashton, Julie Cooper, Amy D'Orazio, Jessie Lewis /Narrated By: Stevie Zimmerman
Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
Oh good cow! How did I wind up loving stories where I sore-wished to throttle the Heroes…?!
It’s like this, see: It all started out with just loving Jane Austen. Total pride in that, no question. Then I kinda dipped m’ toes into Regency Romances. Started getting twitchy and shy in that. Then it was Contemporary Romances, and man! was I feeling sheepish. And then…?
I KNOW, right?!?
Somehow, like, overnight, my cheeks stopped turning pink thinking about how I dearly love a good Romance. And Jane Austen spinoffs and mashups and stories that sometimes oh sooo go against canon? Dude, I’m there!
I’d just finished What It Is Like To Go To War, and I was in desperate need of something light, something fun, something that did NOT make me ponder sooo much. Thoughts? A definite noooo, pleeease!!! And I’d earlier listened to an Amy D’Orazio where I was introduced to the character Lord Saye, and I loved him. So howzabout listening to a tale of four dear couples, written by some of my favorite fanfic authors?
Lord Saye is distraught to learn that his beloved Lily will soon be made an offer of marriage. Nooo, he squeals: She’s meant for meeee! After a meeting of the minds wherein Saye entirely disregards advice, he comes up with a house party idea. He’ll invite his daring cousin Georgette, will have her invite all her charming friends, and he’ll have Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam over, rounded off by a few loser dudes. Lily is SURE to fall for him whenst she experiences what-all could be hers should she decide to become his wife.
That’s the setup. And here are the four couples: NATurally Darcy and Elizabeth; Saye and Lily; Georgette and her beau Anderson; and Fitzwilliam and Sarah.
They’re all delightful, but man oh man did I wanna throttle Darcy and Fitzwilliam. -But- I remembered that this is 10 1/2 hours, so there’d be plenty of time for stories to unfold, plenty of time (And space) for the characters to learn themselves, acknowledge, heal, and change. Still, it makes for some hard going as we hear of Darcy thinking ONLY about his adoration for Elizabeth and as he acts with outrageous jealousy and anger. I mean, yeh yeh yeh, I too wondered about just how altered his character was at the end of Pride and Prejudice. Did he go back to his stern and unyielding ways; did he become aloof when back on his own turf (As Longbourn by Jo Baker would have us believe)?
And then there’s Colonel Fitzwilliam who is just brutally cruel in his actions and deeds, all because he secretly harbors a love for Elizabeth. Fortunately, the authors round all this off with revelations made to Anderson, whom we come to admire and respect. Who cares that he’s so dull he’s known as Blanderson? the man has depth!
But all of this starts working out as the women do the heavy lifting, as since time immemorial, and there are some great pairings, esPECially the one involving Sarah. What a great character: A woman who’s learned communication skills based on interactions with her entomologist father. She and Fitzwilliam are really charming. As was Georgette’s relationship with Bland… er, excuse me… ANDerson.
While Sarah and Fitzwilliam were my favorite pair, my favorite character, bar none, was Saye. As voiced by the EVER-capable Stevie Zimmerman (Whose recording equipment has gotten better as this production sounds waaaay less tinny, and the flubs/record-overs aren’t so jarring). His story, his character, his conduct and speech border on exceedingly bawdy, and one reviewer left a Boo Review citing the vulgarity. Now, I wouldn’t go that far exactly, but there is indeed a scene featuring a freaked-out Anderson and a cockchafer (No, seriously: It’s a bug… so you know Sarah’s gonna be involved) that is hiLARious.
Despite an extended series of Epilogues that kinda were unnecessary (To meee, at any rate), I was so satisfied when all was said and done. DeLIGHTful, and?
Soooo JUST what I needed!
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