• Trapeze

  • By: Simon Mawer
  • Narrated by: Kate Reading
  • Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (542 ratings)

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Trapeze  By  cover art

Trapeze

By: Simon Mawer
Narrated by: Kate Reading
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Publisher's summary

A propulsive novel of World War II espionage by the author of The Glass Room

Barely out of school and doing her bit for the British war effort, Marian Sutro has one quality that makes her stand out—she is a native French speaker. It is this that attracts the attention of the SOE, the Special Operations Executive, which trains agents to operate in occupied Europe. Drawn into this strange, secret world at the age of nineteen, she finds herself undergoing commando training, attending a “school for spies,” and ultimately, one autumn night, parachuting into France from an Royal Air Force bomber to join the Wordsmith resistance network.

But there’s more to Marian’s mission than meets the eye of her SOE controllers; her mission has been hijacked by another secret organization that wants her to go to Paris and persuade a friend—a research physicist—to join the Allied war effort. The outcome could affect the whole course of the war.

A fascinating blend of fact and fiction, Trapeze is both an old-fashioned adventure story and a modern exploration of a young woman’s growth into adulthood. There is violence, and there is love. There is death and betrayal, deception and revelation. But above all there is Marian Sutro, an ordinary young woman who, like her real-life counterparts in the SOE, did the most extraordinary things at a time when the ordinary was not enough.

©2012 Simon Mawer (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A war-torn adventure story that’s eerily erotic and tremendously exciting…[A] gorgeous novel.” ( Washington Post on The Glass Room)

What listeners say about Trapeze

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Parents beware--not for students

I am on chapter 26 of 63 chapters and have decided to abandon the book. The writing is excellent, the narration impeccable, the story compelling and the topic isvery interesting (the SOE during late WWII that trained female agents for highly specialized and dangerous special ops in France). The author includes a lot of well-researched historical detail. However, there have been two sexually explicit parts (one a paragraph and one a whole chapter) so far that have completely turned me off. Not only do they seem gratuitous and completely unnecessary to the plot, but I also feel they cheapen and insult the otherwise compelling 19 year-old heroine. (Ready to face death and torture and take on a new identity and parachute into a remote area, she says, "I don't want to go to France a virgin" and solicits loveless sex from a colleague--the detailed description of which fills a chapter. In what way would she be a less competent or valuable agent if she were to go with her virtue intact??)
I'm listening on Audible so could jump through these sections, catching snippets with every 30 second jump, because these are not the words and images I want in my head. I would not recommend it for high school or even college students--or readers like myself who prefer a book without an R rating
For me, it takes away from the value of the book as a historical novel and makes me think, "If that's what it takes (explicit sexual descriptions) to sell a book about an fascinating group of truly heroic women during a crucial period of history, we live in pathetic times indeed."

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29 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Somewhat tedious

I loved The Glass Room, and was excited about this book, but I can't bring myself to finish it. I've tried to hang on to get to what other readers say is the exciting last part of the book, but I'm not going to get there (I'm two-thirds through it). The writing is clumsy, repetitive, and too literal. What should be implied is stated obviously, then restated a few times. It seems more like a romance novel than Simon Mawer. I had some difficulty with the narration: I loved Kate Reading in Pride and Prejudice, but here she seems to fall into the style of the book and over-play, over-emphasize the text. The male characters all sound monotonous and dull, due to the lowering of her vocal tone. I would rather have a higher voice with expression!

I'm disappointed! I really expected to love this book.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Too much romance

Author tries to balance romantic story with historical narrative but there was too much romance for my literary tastes. Perhaps because the main character is a young female. Historical narrative flows well and the ending is a stunner.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great personal look at history

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the secret lives of women undercover in France, and especially enjoyed the moral questions faced by these very young women who didn't have much life experience upon which to base their choices.

Well written and excellently read.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good story...distracting narration

Any additional comments?

The story was interesting, but the over-the-top accents made me not want to listen. I might try to read it in print instead because my friends love this book, and I feel like I am missing out.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

O.O

Wut?

Thoroughly enjoyable. Kept my attention. Nice narration. That ending tho, *slow blink*

I thought I had accidentally left the book playing and started it at the end... nope. It was the end.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Terribly boring

This book varies between being a manual on how to be a spy and one of how to build an atomic bomb. It is read by a narrator whose voice is as dry as a communion wafer. There are so many French phrases with no English translations that it’s difficult to understand if you don’t have command of that language. I struggled just to get through it and found the entire story uninteresting and without any wit or cunning. The characters have no endearing personalities, no way to connect to any of them. I could find nothing that would make me recommend it to any reader.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

tight gripping and believable WW2 espionage

What did you love best about Trapeze?

Gripping story with believable characters

Any additional comments?

This was a great listen. It caught my interest immediately. The characters were interesting and the time period ans situation of occupied France was great. I couldn't wait to get to the ironing so I could get back to my listen!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • MP
  • 09-21-12

Very good book; excellent narrator

An interesting story, well read. It lags a little bit in the middle but the last third is completely gripping.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastical Fictional History

Where does Trapeze rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This was a fantastic book, probably in my top 20.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The main character was amazing. Such a heroine, complex and yet simple.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Anne Hataway would make this story into a fantastic movie as the lead. Is it the Catholic or Protestant spy?

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1 person found this helpful