Amandine

By: Marlena de Blasi

Narrated by: John McDonough

Marlena de Blasi, best-selling memoirist of A Thousand Days in Venice, makes her remarkable fiction debut with this poignant tale.

Deemed an illegitimate child by her royal Polish family, Amandine is abandoned as a baby at a French convent. As she grows, Amandine struggles to accept her orphaned state. She longs to put together the missing pieces of her identity, but as World War II engulfs Europe, her time to find answers may be running short.

©2010 Marlena de Blasi (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

Wow! What a powerful and beautifully written book!

I bought this book based on the narrator, John McDonough as he is my all-time favorite narrator. I was not disappointed with the book. It was wonderful! Both John M and the female narrator were excellent. The production was smooth and their pronunciation of some very difficult French and German words was effortless. Powerful story about a baby girl who was born out of wedlock to a Polish princess. Due to a heart defect, she was not expected to live. In spite of the illness, her grandmother placed her in a convent in France to be cared for by a governess. The heart defect 'healed of its own accord' and Amandine grew into a very elegant child. The first of the book is a little hard to get into but don't dispare! It gets better and better as you go along. Great historical fiction about the Nazi occupation of France from 1941 - 1945. The book ended much as I had expected (I still have a lump in my throat.) This story will stay with me for a long time.

What a great read, I mean "listen!"

"Amandine" is totally different than anything else Marlena de Blasi has written to date, and I hope it is just the beginning of her "next life" as an author. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Amandine, which was easy to follow, yet unpredictable. Thanks to the author's descriptive skills, the images in my mind were so very real, some exquisitely beautiful, some horrific.

I highly recommend that you skip putting "Amandine" on your wish list but rather purchase and start listening to it today!

don't listen to this book

if you listen to the reader it sucks
just read the actual book it's better