G.A. Henty, With Lee in Virginia, Audio Theater, A Review

Heirloom Audio Productions has done it again. They have brought another G.A. Henty book to life With Lee in Virginia.

Our family was captivated in the car trip to Portland listening to Vincent Wingfield, a 15 yr old who joins the Calvary of the Army of Northern Virginia. We join up with Vincent on his plantation as he navigates his way with a contentious neighbor, deals with saving /helping neighboring slaves, and then joins the movement of the Succession.

The main goal in the beginning is learning about the rights of the states over the rights of federal government. This is a timely story for our raging culture right now. It is interesting to hear how passionate these families are, willing to die, for their rights.

The radio theater has two cd’s. We listened to the second one when we got home. It was a joy to listen to it on our blue ray player. I often listen to the Hulu or Netflix movies while I am cooking dinner. Listening to these is as /if not more enjoyable. The soundtrack is amazing. We received the Official With Lee In Virginia Soundtrack MP3 download which contains all the original music by Emmy-winning composer John Campbell. You can feel the deep emotions with the music. The background sounds helps to create the story in your mind, you can see the road, hear the river, feel the horses, and watch the carriages go by.

In the second cd, he is now fully in the war, then a prisoner, escapee, and on his way home. The theme goes to a quote by Robert E Lee, “Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less.” The Bible and the reliance on the verses like Philippians 4:13, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength is also held fast.

There are twists and turns with the characters in the story – it keeps you glued to the soundtrack for sure.

Heirloom Audio has a goal of teaching true history from a Christian worldview. They “deeply care about helping families raise their children to become knowledgeable and engaged citizens.” In that, with each of the Live the Adventure family audio dramas, they offer curriculum in the form of an eStudy Guide and Discussion Starter.

The study guide for With Lee In Virginia is 30 pages long offering discussion points, history-learning guides and story-related Bible study. These are designed by Christian educators as a complete story curriculum to complement the With Lee In Virginia audio presentation. What we have found is that during the story a question will pop up, and we go to the study guide to search it out further. However, it is a complete history curriculum, you could listen to part, and do the unit study each day.

We really liked this installment of the G.A. Henty series. In fairness, I must say, that we did not enjoy the voice of Vincent. It was hard to block out the older person making a little boy sound. He also didn’t really have a Virginian accent. Most of the players did not seem to have a native Virginian accent. Or, being in the Pacific Northwest, maybe we are used to a southern drawl from Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, but not Virginia. Usually with these soundtracks, the voices are amazing. Each of our family members commented the first day that the voices didn’t seem to match the characters.

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