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The Birth of Venus
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterling
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
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The Birth of Venus
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Publisher's summary
On excursions into the streets of night-time Florence she observes a terrible evil stalking the city and witnesses the rise of the fiery young priest, Savanarola, who has set out to rid the city of vice, richness, even art itself. Alessandra must make crucial decisions about the shape of her adult life, as Florence itself must choose between the old ways of the luxury-loving Medicis and the asceticism of Savanorola. And through it all, there is the painter, whose love will change everything.
Critic reviews
"No one should visit Tuscany this summer without this book. It is richly textured, and driven by a thrillerish fever." (The Times)
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What listeners say about The Birth of Venus
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Heather
- 05-25-12
Incoherent abridgement - ludicrious references
Would you try another book from Sarah Dunant and/or Jenny Sterling?
no
Would you ever listen to anything by Sarah Dunant again?
no
What didn’t you like about Jenny Sterling’s performance?
irritating voice
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Birth of Venus?
it was an incoherent abridgement - unbalanced. Long drawn out parts and then rushing through teh last 1/2 of the story in the last hour. To be fair, I do not like abridged versions and msised that when I ordered it, but it was terribly done in this case.
Any additional comments?
Especially annoying - having a 15th century narrator use words like "crap" and talk about contractions being 5 min apart - discredited the whole suspended disbelief.
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