First Impressions
A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen
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Narrated by:
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Jayne Entwistle
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By:
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Charlie Lovett
About this listen
Charlie Lovett first delighted listeners with his New York Times best-selling debut, The Bookman's Tale. Now, Lovett weaves another brilliantly imagined mystery, this time featuring one of English literature's most popular and beloved authors: Jane Austen.
Book lover and Austen enthusiast Sophie Collingwood has recently taken a job at an antiquarian bookshop in London when two different customers request a copy of the same obscure book: the second edition of Little Book of Allegories by Richard Mansfield. Their queries draw Sophie into a mystery that will cast doubt on the true authorship of Pride and Prejudice - and ultimately threaten Sophie's life.
In a dual narrative that alternates between Sophie's quest to uncover the truth - while choosing between two suitors - and a young Jane Austen's touching friendship with the aging cleric Richard Mansfield, Lovett weaves a romantic, suspenseful, and utterly compelling novel about love in all its forms and the joys of a life lived in books.
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- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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For Emily, accepting the proposal of Philip, the viscount Ashton, was an easy way to escape her overbearing mother, who was set on a grand society match. So when Emily's dashing husband died on safari soon after their wedding, she felt little grief. After all, she barely knew him. Now, nearly two years later, she discovers that Philip was a far different man from the one she had married so cavalierly.
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Tiresome
- By nkevinsc on 03-05-15
By: Tasha Alexander
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The President’s Daughter
- By: Mariah Stewart
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Dina McDermott is on top of the world. Attractive and independent at 30, she runs her own business, funded by a generous inheritance. But an explosive chain of events will soon be set into motion—and her perfect life will spin out of control. A journalist with a fearless instinct, Simon Keller believes he’s struck gold when he unearths an unsettling story about former president Graham Hayward, one that started with a secret affair and ended in tragedy. The trail leads Simon to Dina McDermott’s front door—and threatens to expose a parentage that would rock the political world.
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Highly Recommended!
- By Johnsondv8 on 05-18-22
By: Mariah Stewart
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The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte
- By: Syrie James
- Narrated by: Bianca Amato
- Length: 16 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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From Syrie James, the best-selling author of The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen, comes a novel that captures the passionate heart and restless soul of Charlotte Brontë—the author who gave the world Jane Eyre while longing for a soulmate.
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Twice a year
- By Victoria Evangelina on 03-23-12
By: Syrie James
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The Stranger House
- By: Reginald Hill
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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For years, the Stranger House has stood in the village of Illthwaite, offering refuge to travellers. People like Sam, a brilliant young mathematician, who believes that anything that can't be explained by maths isn't worth explaining. And Miguel, a historian running from a priests' seminary, who sees ghosts. Sam is an experienced young woman, Miguel a 26-year-old virgin.
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an OK read
- By Jen Terry on 01-18-08
By: Reginald Hill
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The Distant Hours
- By: Kate Morton
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 22 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Edie Burchill and her mother have never been close, but when a long lost letter arrives one Sunday afternoon with the return address of Milderhurst Castle, Kent, printed on its envelope, Edie begins to suspect that her mother’s emotional distance masks an old secret.
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Right Mood At The Right Time
- By Simone on 11-13-12
By: Kate Morton
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The Book of Air and Shadows
- A Novel
- By: Michael Gruber
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 18 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Jake Mishkin's seemingly innocent job as an intellectual property lawyer has put him at the center of a deadly conspiracy and a chase to find a priceless treasure involving William Shakespeare. As he awaits a killer (or killers) unknown, Jake writes an account of the events that led to this deadly endgame, a frantic chase that began when a fire in an antiquarian bookstore revealed the hiding place of letters containing a shocking secret, concealed for 400 years.
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Not your average story.
- By Nicholas Winn on 06-02-07
By: Michael Gruber
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Wicked Autumn
- A Max Tudor Novel
- By: G. M. Malliet
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Max Tudor has adapted well to his post as vicar of St. Edwold's in the idyllic village of Nether Monkslip. The quiet village seems the perfect home for Max, who has fled a harrowing past as an MI5 agent. But this new-found serenity is quickly shattered when the highly vocal and unpopular president of the Women's Institute turns up dead at the Harvest Fayre. The death looks like an accident, but Max's training as a former agent kicks in, and before long he suspects foul play.
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A Classic Cozy English Village Mystery
- By Sara on 10-08-14
By: G. M. Malliet
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The Young Clementina
- By: D. E. Stevenson
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
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Charlotte Dean enjoys nothing more than the solitude of her London flat and the monotonous days of her work at a travel bookshop. But when her younger sister unceremoniously bursts into her quiet life one afternoon, Charlotte's world turns topsy-turvy. Beloved author D. E. Stevenson captures the intricacies of post-World War I England with a light, comic touch that perfectly embodies the spirit of the time. Alternatively heartbreaking and witty, The Young Clementina is a touching tale of love, loss and redemption through friendship.
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Miss Dean's Dilemma
- By Jerri C on 05-02-18
By: D. E. Stevenson
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At Home with the Templetons
- By: Monica McInerney
- Narrated by: Ulli Birve
- Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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When the Templeton family from England takes up residence in a stately home in country Australia, they set the locals talking – and with good reason. From the outside, the seven Templetons seem so bohemian, peculiar even. No one is more intrigued by the family than their neighbours, single mother Nina Donovan and her young son Tom. Before long, the two families' lives become entwined in unexpected ways.
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A dreadful mistake
- By Julie on 11-14-10
By: Monica McInerney
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Secrets of a Charmed Life
- By: Susan Meissner
- Narrated by: Alana Kerr Collins
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Current day, Oxford, England. Young American scholar Kendra Van Zant, eager to pursue her vision of a perfect life, interviews Isabel McFarland just when the elderly woman is ready to give up secrets about the war that she has kept for decades...beginning with who she really is. What Kendra receives from Isabel is both a gift and a burden--one that will test her convictions and her heart.
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Rare 5-Star Across the Board!
- By Imamomof4 on 06-14-15
By: Susan Meissner
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Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
- By: M. R. James
- Narrated by: David Timson, Stephen Critchlow
- Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The powerful sense of evil – darkness, creepy hairy presences, cloaks, hoods, talons and tentacles – pervades these classic ghost stories by M.R. James. A Cambridge scholar himself, James explored what happens when academics dabble in things they don’t understand and unleash forces of which they know nothing.
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Great performances of the classic
- By Adeliese Baumann on 06-25-11
By: M. R. James
What listeners say about First Impressions
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kathleen Polkinghorn
- 01-22-15
1st half drags, last half soars
I nearly stopped listening to this until I was about four hours in and the plot took off. The last half is very clever and well executed. The narrator was annoying in the way she played the characters. Like an excited chipmunk. If one were reading, that would be eliminated so I do recommend the story.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Barbara Johnson
- 06-05-20
Rare Books
Don't disregard this one Jane fans and Mr. Lovett bravo to librarians! Impressive nuances life affirming, liked the love language and the history of printers.
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- Mary
- 08-07-18
A pleasant surprise, most enjoyable
First book I have read by Charlie Lovett, will look for more! Wonderful historical fiction.
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- kaylady
- 12-30-14
Fun read
Enjoyable book with events of the current time interspersed with flashbacks with characters searching for an obscure book related to Jane Austen 's writings.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Quilter I Am
- 02-11-17
Wonderful & captivating!
Perfect narration! Fabulous story line! Mystery, romance, history & Jane Austen!
I think I will need to re-read all Jane Austen's works starting tomorrow!
Loved listening to this story!
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3 people found this helpful
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- Darrin
- 10-05-16
I'm in L O V E
Do not hesitate to buy this book and listen to it over and over. It is darling and charming and I sincerely wish it were 20 hours long.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Maine Colonial 🌲
- 01-11-17
One story thread is much better than the other
I have mixed feelings about this book. I've enjoyed Charlie Lovett's books before, and his specialty is dual-narrative literary mysteries, so I figured another one would be a good bet.
The older narrative involves Jane Austen and imagines a story about her inspiration to write Pride & Prejudice––or, as it was originally titled, First Impressions. The contemporary story features a young woman named Sophie, a bibliophile with a particular interest in Jane Austen.
Sophie's love of books came about through her relationship with her favorite uncle, Bertram, who lives in London's Maida Vale in a flat filled with his book treasures, most hunted down in old book shops, but a precious shelf coming from an annual choice out of his family's ancestral home.
As a result of a series of shocking events, Sophie pursues an investigation into the history of Pride & Prejudice and its possible relationship with a book written by a clergyman–––a book that two mysterious men have commissioned her to find. In her investigation, she also hopes to involve mysteries involving Uncle Bertram and his library.
As in other Lovett novels, the contemporary story includes a romance element. Those familiar with Jane Austen will note certain resemblances between Sophie's love life and some Austen romances. This is not necessarily a positive for a mystery, since it makes it only too obvious how that plot will play out. Another problem with the contemporary plot thread is that Lovett has Sophie make some stunningly dumb decisions that needlessly put her in danger. I hate it when writers do that.
The Jane Austen plot is more appealing, though it's not very lively if that's what a reader is interested in.
Jayne Entwistle chooses a too-cute voice for the tone of the novel. I've heard her normal speaking voice, which would have been better. Instead, she goes up into a more soprano level and puts an overdone laughing tone into her reading. It isn't terrible, but it is a little bit grating.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Lynne
- 03-14-15
Mediocre
I wanted to like this book. I am a Jane Austen fan, and I appreciated the historical detail and accuracy about Jane Austen's life. I felt that the book started out slowly. At some point in the middle, I had hope that it had turned a corner, but I was disappointed. I found it hard to believe that Sohpie couldn't tell that Winston was not an honest character. I did like the focus on printing and the book world. Sohpie's social life left me cold, though, and it was a lot of the focus of the book.
I've listened to other books that Jane Entwistle narrated, and I have always liked her. I agree that her narration didn't quite work in this book. She has an ability to express a "smile in her voice," and I found it off-putting in this book.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Jan
- 06-13-15
Charlie Lovett Strikes again
Having thoroughly enjoyed the Bookbinder's Tale I embarked upon the next Charlie Lovett tale. It couldn't be as good as the other, could it? Yes! First Impressions was another great romp through time with a beloved literary figure. Thanks Charlie!
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1 person found this helpful
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- lyl
- 01-21-15
A booklovers book
Translation of my title: if you love everything about reading about people who love books, physically and mentally, you will love this book. If you love Jane Austin you will not be able to put it down.
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5 people found this helpful