Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen’s Rakes and Gentlemen Rogues (The Quill Collective Book 2) . Interview with actor and narrator Andre Refig.

 

• Audio Download
• Listening Length: 14 hours and 4 minutes
• Program Type: Audiobook
• Version: Unabridged
• Publisher: The Quill Ink, LLC
• Audible.co.uk Release Date: 25 April 2018
• Language: English
• ASIN: B07CMFSLJ5

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

One has all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it.” —Jane Austen Jane Austen’s masterpieces are littered with unsuitable gentlemen—Willoughby, Wickham, Churchill, Crawford, Tilney, Elliot, et al.—adding color and depth to her plots but often barely sketched. Have you never wondered about the pasts of her rakes, rattles, and gentlemen rogues? Surely, there’s more than one side to their stories. It is a universal truth, we are captivated by smoldering looks, daring charms … a happy-go-lucky, cool confidence. All the while, our loyal confidants are shouting on deaf ears: “He is a cad—a brute—all wrong!” But is that not how tender hearts are broken…by loving the undeserving? How did they become the men Jane Austen created? In this romance anthology, eleven Austenesque authors expose the histories of Austen’s anti-heroes. Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen’s Rakes & Gentlemen Rogues is a titillating collection of Georgian era short stories—a backstory or parallel tale off-stage of canon—whilst remaining steadfast to the characters we recognize in Austen’s great works. What say you? Everyone may be attracted to a bad boy…even temporarily…but heaven help us if we marry one.

 

Review

This is the first time I have been asked to take part in a blog tour for an audiobook, so I accepted immediately as I like to try something new.  I should point out that book is also available in ebook and physical book if you prefer.

Being a huge Jane Austen fan, this book was a joy to me, especially as this concentrated on those handsome rogues from the novels.  There are eleven stories in this collection, written by different authors, and each tell the back story of those rogues  from each of the books.  The collection features Willoughby’s Crossroads. by Joanne Starnes (Sense and Sensibility); A Wicked Game by Katie Oliver (George Whickham, Pride and Prejudice); Fitzwilliam’s Folly by Beau North (Pride and Prejudice); The Address of a Frenchwoman by Lona Manning (Thomas Bertram, Mansfield Park); Last Letter to Mansfield by Brooke West (Henry Crawford, Mansfield Park); An Honest Man by Karen M Cox (Frank Churchill,  Emma); One Fair Claim by Christina Morland (Sir Walter Elliot, Persuasion); The Lost Chapter in the Life of William Elliot by Jeanette James (Persuasion); As Much as He Can by Sophia Rose (General Tilney, Northanger Abbey); The Art of Sinking by J Marie Croft (John Thorpe, Northanger Abbey); For Mischief’s Sake by Amy D’Orazio (Captain Frederik Tilney, Northanger Abbey).

Having read all of Jane Austen’s novels, most of them more than once, I was interested to see how these rogues would be portrayed and what their back story would be.  I was pleasantly surprised at how good these stories were, I am quite protective of Jane Austen and always worry that new authors will ruin it for me, and many have in the past. These stories however, were written in very similar style, and gave a wonderful insight to events only hinted at by Austen herself.  My favourite, I think, was Frank Churchill’s story from Emma.  It was hoped that Frank would wed Emma, but we learn of his relationship with Jane Fairfax “a woman of no fortune”.  In an Honest Man we learn of Frank’s childhood, where he was brought up by his aunt and uncle after the death of his mother, and his original courting of Jane, and goes onto tell us the conclusion to this story.

All of these rogues are charming, handsome and lets face it, we all like a bad boy, especially in uniform as most of these men are.  There wasn’t one story I didn’t like, all were well written, true to the origional Austen style, and for me beautifully narrated by André Refig.  André has a wonderful voice, the perfect English accent that suits the characters, and brings these Gentleman Rogues to life.  André’s resume is vast including acting in Shakespeare and being part of musical theatre and Opera.  He has kindly given me an interview which is at the end of this review.  Personally, I think this works superbly as an audiobook, probably better than a reading copy, so much more is gained by listening to the stories, the characters come to life, and the nuances of the characters come through in the vocal performance. I highly recommend this in audiobook format.

This is a perfect read for Jane Austen fans.  These rogues get to to tell their story, the reasons behind their behaviour, and what became of them.  There are many other characters you will remember from the books; the gorgeous Mr Darcy appears in several of these stories, which I also loved.  All the authors write with a flowing style and treat these characters with the care and respect they deserve.  A superb set of stories, and one I highly recommend.

 

 

Can you tell me a bit about yourself?
I’m an actor and voice artist. I’ve been working as an actor for 10 years now, mostly on stage, having performed a mixture of modern plays, musical theatre, operetta, Shakespeare and children’s theatre. I’ve also been working as a voice artist for about 6 years, voicing explainer videos, E-Learning, computer games and most recently, audiobooks.

What drew you to be the narrator for Dangerous To Know?
I was approached by Christina Boyd, the editor, who asked if I wanted to audition to narrate this anthology. I submitted an audition and then was lucky enough to be chosen. I think what drew me to it was the quality of the writing, the variety of different characters I had to portray and of course the chance to play Jane Austen’s most infamous cads.

Do you have a favourite Jane Austen Book?
My favourite Jane Austen book would have to be Pride and Prejudice. I feel that I empathise more with the protagonists than in any of her other novels.

This books is about the gentlemen rogues and cads in Jane Austen’s books, who is your favourite rogue?
I can’t say I have a favourite Austen rogue, I think they’re all very interesting and different in their own ways.

What makes a good rogue?
I think a good rogue has to be charming, while being someone you know you shouldn’t be mixing with. The best rogues are fully fleshed out three-dimensional characters, whose faults are usually only visible to the reading/listening public, but not always to the protagonist.

Could you tell me a bit about the process of recording an audiobook?
I guess everyone’s process is different. In my case, I read the story first of course, then think about the overall style and find voices for all of the specific characters. I then record it, usually in sessions of about 2-3 hours. In the case of this anthology, I tried to record each individual story in one session. Then I edit, listening through the recording, noting down errors or things I’d like to improve and doing some post-processing (improving the sound quality). I then re-record any corrections or changes, do the final edit and submit that story. Depending on feedback, I might have to re-record some parts before uploading once again.

You have an extensive CV in the arts field, an actor in works by Shakespeare and Gilbert and Sullivan, singer in musicals and opera, what is your favourite genre of the arts?
My favourite genres are Shakespeare and Sondheim but I think what I actually love the most is the sheer variety of different genres.

You seem so busy, but what type of books do like to read?
I have to admit I don’t get the time to read as much as I’d like. When I do find the time, I suppose I read a mixture of classic literature, non-fiction (mostly popular science), whodunnits and fantasy.

Finally, if you had a choice to play the romantic hero or the gentleman rogue in one of Jane Austen’s novels, which would you prefer and why?
Normally, I would choose the gentleman rogue as they do tend to be more fun to play, but in the case of Jane Austen’s novels, I would be equally happy to play the romantic hero as she writes them so well.