When Summer Never Came

A Pride & Prejudice Variation (Pride and Prejudice "What If?" Variations)

By: Tiffany Thomas

Narrated by: Harry Frost

In this Pride & Prejudice variation, a worldwide disaster of epic proportions causes Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet to meet under extraordinary circumstances. In this retelling of Jane Austen's famous work, will Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth find their happily ever after?

In April 1815, the volcano Mount Tambora erupted in Indonesia. It affected the climate so that in 1816, there was cold and snow throughout the summer all across the world.

How would Pride & Prejudice be different if it had erupted 10 years earlier, drastically altering the climate across the world? Would Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy still find one another in a year when summer never came?

Elizabeth Bennet has just experienced one of the most difficult years of her entire life. The loss of a beloved sister, a failed harvest, and the threat of freezing to death from a bitterly cold winter cause the inhabitants of Longbourn to do the unthinkable.

Meanwhile, Fitzwilliam Darcy is desperate to keep his family and his tenants alive. The scarcity of food due to a freezing summer has him taking extreme measures. His radical idea takes him, along with his friend Charles Bingley, to Netherfield, where his drastic experiment has the potential to save them all - or ruin his life forever.

Will the changed circumstances cause Elizabeth and Darcy to come together in unity? Or will his pride and her prejudice remain alive, in spite of the terrible circumstances that are a result of the year without summer?

When Summer Never Came is a full-length, sweet regency romance novel of 130,000 words that is a variation of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. Unlike Tiffany Thomas' other novels, this one does not have a trigger warning.

©2022 Tiffany Thomas (P)2023 Tiffany Thomas

realistic dialog

Good twist
of the conventional story of Jane Austen's novel. Entertaining and enjoyable. Worth listening to.

Interesting

I enjoyed hearing how the people dealt with the severe cold. The first of the book was excellent, but it bogged down in the last quarter. The back and forth between Elizabeth and Darcy became tiring. Actually, Elizabeth was not very likable. The other three sisters (Kitty was deceased from the beginning) were much more likable. Caroline's storyline was fun to listen to. Mr. and Mrs Bennett were also fun to keep up with. I loved Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Bennett was a better person than she usually is in the variations. Harry Frost is one of the best narrators in the business and he did his usual excellent performance in this book.

Excellent premise!

This story takes a piece of world history and expounds on it to provide an excellent JAFF. Of course, Harry Frost is an excellent narrator!

Very unique story Line

I really loved this one and would spend extra time listening to see what happens. A couple of times had me teary which is very rare for a book. I enjoyed all the ups and downs of the plot and never got bored! Highly recommend for P&P fans!

A Satisfyingly long saga the premise deserved

The historical event this story takes its premise from is one that I wish I could see more often in historical fiction of the Regency era. The event impacted nearly every part of society. However it takes on the importance that of a character all its own so the author has a weight on their shoulders to pull it off well. Tiffany Thomas nailed it here.

I loved this for so many reasons. The Year Without a Summer pulled so many threads in the canon Pride and Prejudice that changed many of our dear characters’ lives yet the changes all felt genuine and realistic.

Darcy and Elizabeth’s story was impacted by the times that challenged everyone, but much of their drama was due to their own misunderstanding. This part of the story I could have done without, it’s not my favorite relationship development in variation fiction.
I still loved their happy ending and I loved the other characters’ roads to their happily ever afters. I’m always ready for new‘pairings,’ and there were some good ones here, especially Charlotte Lucas, Mary Bennett, and Colonel Fitzwilliam.

As I stated this book was satisfyingly long as it took place over nearly a year’s time. When I think of living through that kind of experience here in our own time I shudder to think how frightening that would be. Triple or quadruple the situation that the recent pandemic caused us and we might come close to how awful it would be.

I will definitely want to listen to this again after some time has passed. I highly recommend it. The narration was so good. I’m so glad to see Thomas’s books coming to audio. I love her work.