A Parcel for Anna Browne

By: Miranda Dickinson

Narrated by: Clare Corbett

Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

An inspiring and enchanting novel from Sunday Times best seller Miranda Dickinson.

The gift of a lifetime?

Anna Browne is an ordinary woman living an ordinary life. Her day job as a receptionist in bustling London isn't exactly her dream, yet she has everything she wants. But someone thinks Anna Browne deserves more....

When a parcel addressed to Anna Browne arrives, she has no idea who has sent it. Inside she finds a beautiful gift - one that is designed to be seen. And so begins a series of incredible deliveries, each one bringing Anna further out of the shadows and encouraging her to become the woman she was destined to be.

As Anna grows in confidence, others begin to notice her - and her life starts to change. But who is sending the mysterious gifts, and why?

A Parcel for Anna Browne is an utterly captivating novel by Sunday Times best-selling author Miranda Dickinson.

Please note that following customer feedback, sections of this product have been rerecorded. New audio has been made available as of 4 November 2015.

©2015 Miranda Dickinson (P)2015 Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

powerful and engaging story and performance.

audible made the story live, engaging, tangible performance. greater clarity for me than just reading.

Surprisingly entertaining

Quite a bit of redundancy, but I found it much more entertaining than I expected it to be.

It's just THAT GOOD!

What did you love best about A Parcel for Anna Browne?

Wonderful mystery about an unassuming, average woman that draws you in from the start. Beautifully written, great dialogue, setting details without being too sugary. The narrator was incredible with the voices, especially Shaniece? (sp?) I loved this so much I also ordered it in paperback so I can pass it around, and hope Miranda Dickinson finds a North American audience. I've been promoting it all over Facebook and at work and might suggest our local library add it to their collection.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I loved them all because Miranda Dickinson presented really well drawn characters. Anna was such a lovely character to root for, and her co-workers were hilarious. Of course I loved the romantic lead and the slow-burn romantic tension throughout.

Which character – as performed by Clare Corbett – was your favorite?

Sheniece? (sp). Bloody brilliant. I've been bookmarking some of her great lines and letting my co-workers listen to the incredible range Clare Corbett has for accents. She's become my favourite narrator. Truly amazing.

Any additional comments?

This is the first time I've jumped on an Audible recommendation and I'm so glad I did. I ended up ordering 3 of this author's books on Kindle afterwards as well.

not bad. not great

lots of editing errors in the audio, will make you think the author is repeating themselves several times. plot was ok, not great

A wonderful story beautifully performed

Loved every morsel of this book. Clare Corbett is a phenomenal narrator. Would listen to any book she narrates. One of the best books I have read and listened to this year. Highly recommend.

nicely crafted

I enjoyed the story. It had some surprising turns. It was predictable in some ways. Interesting characters. The childhood backstories and succeeding trauma symptoms shown in some of the characters were very plausible. I was specifically searching for a fiction story that was not dark, not violent, nor overtly sexual, but more interesting than the average Hallmark movie. A friend recommended this story and it fulfilled all of the above, and was quite charming also. Well-written and not overly sweet. I'd be interested to follow a further story, not about Anna, but about her editor.
the narrator did an excellent job. if I had one critique, the audio editors would have helped by lowering the volume on some of the harsher, louder female voices, like the American friend or the subordinate coworker. I can't remember their names. Those voices got painfully loud in my headphones.

Cute idea but a bit of an eye-roll

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The main thing I would like to have seen was a lot more "showing" and less "telling". The reader was told about all sorts of character development through 3rd-person narration without actually getting to see a lot of character development happening. I would also have changed the love-interest altogether - it simply wasn't believable at all. There was nothing about Anna Browne's love-interest that seemed terribly appealing other than that he was allegedly handsome. His character wasn't developed at all; I actually found myself saying "why??" out loud whenever Anna talked longingly about this fellow - not because I thought he was awful but because as the reader I'd not been shown anything about him or their relationship that demonstrated the growing attraction that I was supposed to now believe in.

What was most disappointing about Miranda Dickinson’s story?

Like other reviewers, I warmed to Anna after a while, but I just didn't understand the interest in Ben, the man she supposedly falls in love with. It was so unbelievable, and disappointing in the end that this is the guy she fawns over.

Which character – as performed by Clare Corbett – was your favorite?

Anna's mum is performed really believably and in a cringe-worthy way. It was raw and uncomfortable - just as it was supposed to be. Bravo!

Was A Parcel for Anna Browne worth the listening time?

By about halfway through, I found myself rolling my eyes quite a bit at the way the backstory and character development seems to be thrown together rather haphazardly through the narrator simply adding facts along the way, rather than the picture having been painted in a believable way. I'm not sure that I'd recommend spending 13 hours on this.

Inspiring

This book shows how simple acts of kindness and daily interactions can impact people in more ways than you might realize. I truly enjoyed this book.