The Collaborator

By: Diane Armstrong

Narrated by: Deidre Rubenstein

Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Based on astonishing true events set in the darkest days of World War II in Budapest, this is an enthralling story of heroism, vengeance, passion and betrayal.

An act of heroism, the taint of collaboration, a doomed love affair and an Australian woman who travels across the world to discover the truth....

It is 1944 in Budapest, and the Germans have invaded. Miklos Nagy risks his life and confronts the dreaded Adolf Eichmann in an attempt save thousands of Hungarian Jews from the death camps. But no one could have foreseen the consequences....

It is 2005 in Sydney, and Annika Barnett sets out on a journey that takes her to Budapest and Tel Aviv to discover the truth about the mysterious man who rescued her grandmother in 1944.

By the time her odyssey is over, history has been turned on its head, past and present collide and the secret that has poisoned the lives of three generations is finally revealed in a shocking climax that holds the key to their redemption.

©2019 Diane Armstrong (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing

Felt removed from the main. Characters

It felt distant to me. And the audio book too long. Fairly good story but the protagonist was 40 not 18. Controlled by her grandmother It had the potential to be better but I do appreciate the fact that it didn’t use profanity or linger on sexual issues. May give this writer another try

A brilliant, intense, stunning historical novel

Diane Armstrong is an excellent writer, skillfully weaving together three eras and three countries in a gripping, complex historical novel based on a real and controversial person.

The book effectively portrays the moral ambiguities and political power struggles that seem to be a consistent thread in human nature.

Although the narrator's voice was a bit shrill at times, she handled Hungarian and Hebrew pronunciations smoothly.

This book will definitely be marked as one of my favorites and if I ever get through my "to read", it would be worth reading again, even though I rarely do so.

powerful! good twist on an historic holocaust even

Most memorable is the heroines search for her purpose. couldn't put it down! must read.

Ruined by the reader

This is a terrific book, "factual fiction", a gripping story well told, if a little long. However, the whole experience was ruined for me by the absolutely awful reader, who seems unable to complete even the shortest sentence without drawing a new breath between two or three words. She sounds as if she's running a 10K race while reading the book. If I had the time, I would re-read the book in hard copy just to get this dreadful voice out of my mind.

Great read

Only negative is the performance was screechy at times throughout. Almost too dramatic and was distractive. But overall highly recommend.

Meh

This was one of the few books I have read which left me extremely bored and restless. It seemed like it would never end. About three quarters through, I realized it was because the author spent a whole chapter describing one encounter. The writing was extremely flowery and redundant.

Tedious

I suspected the ending early on but slogged through the unnecessary chapters and endlessly repetitive hand-wringing about the alleged collaborator. I was interested in the history, but the story into which it was woven could have been streamlined by 60%. If this hadn’t been good for falling asleep to, I would likely not have finished listening.

Good story but poor narration

I had just finished listening to Diane Armstrong's book, Mosaic, which I absolutely loved. This book came up and sounded interesting and I noticed it was narrated by the same person (she did a good job with Mosaic). I was surprised at how hard it is to listen to her read this book! I've finally given up and ordered the book on my Kindle instead because I want to know the story but just can't listen to this narrator any more! I'm sorry I wasted a credit!