Mad Hatter

Essential Prose, Book 164

By: Amanda Hale

Narrated by: Amanda Hale

Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's Summary

When British hat manufacturer Christopher Brooke is arrested under Regulation 18B in June 1940, a slow process of personal disintegration begins, affecting his family irreversibly. 

Taking us into the pre-war political era of Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, Mad Hatter delves into the lives of Britons, tracking them through a darkening time. 

Irish farm girl, Mary Byrne, arrives in England in July 1940 to work as housekeeper for Cynthia Brooke and her three children, bonding with the family. When Mary is shockingly expelled from the house upon Christopher's release from internment in 1943, her narration continues through the mouth of 15-month-old Katie, conceived on a prison leave. 

Mad Hatter follows the Brooke family into the postwar period, charting the slow unraveling of a marriage as the story moves inexorably to a tragic conclusion in which Mary Byrne is once again embraced by the family, but in a most surprising manner.

©2019 Amanda Hale (P)2020 Amanda Hale

A family history through WWII

*I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.*

Christopher is a normal man who makes hats for a living. When WWII starts, he is taken captive and gets back home a Nazi.

I was never sure if this book was a historical fiction or a memoir, but it shows the problems that could arise within a family when one of them has different and radical views in a time of war.

Regarding characters, I thought it did not have enough development to understand where most of them were coming from, so except from our MC, I would have appreciated more background information about them.

Shamefully, this book didn't give me anything new, but it was quite enjoyable. Hence the 3 stars.

I thought it was well written and the narrator did a fantastic job!

Mad Hatter

Wow!What a book!This is the story of a man,thrown in jail for his pascifism prior to WW2 and let go 3 years later as a Hitler/Jesus nut.His family suffers as they are harrassed by reporters and neighbors alike.I could barely put it down. Amanda Hale was a wonderful narrator as well as the author.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A part of history almost forgotten

I received a copy of this audiobook, which I had requested, as I was intrigued by the subject matter and the subtitle. Having listened to every word, I still understand nothing about the subtitle and am not sure I had missed all that much in my prior ignorance of the subject matter. In a nutshell: it's the story of a British nut job who believed whole-heartedly that Hitler's National Socialism was THE answer to all society's problems in the years leading up to the Second World War and even throughout its duration. He was not alone in that belief, but fortunately, as time went on, his co-crazies either wisened up or learned to shut up. Not so the patriarch of this beleaguered family. This is a tale told primarily by his fictionalized family. Fictionalized, but true none-the-less, with the author admitting that much of the story is based on the real-life, often heart-breaking, experiences of her own family. The book is far too long and cluttered with far too much inconsequential detail, and in the end, there's little to cheer about, except, I guess, survival.

One family story, a little known episode

Beautifully written and told Storey open England during the war while this is the author story it is not And autobiography That sheds light A little no one aspect of Britain during the war. So well written and Narrated. Grief, love, politics

Ok, but a bit slow and monotonous

This was a difficult book to get through, the narrator (the author) did their best to bring it to life but the narrative was occasionally overly detailed, and repetitive. But each character was well designed and given life in their dialogue.

Give it a listen and see what you think. You may enjoy it more than I did.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review

Dark. Brooding. Excellent.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. It's well researched and regales us with a part of history from the Second World War within Britain that I was not aware of (namely, fascist sympathisers). The writing was dark and brooding, but there were plenty of touching moments, and funny moments, to not make it overly depressing. Told from multiple POV's, and spanning many years, Hare has really accomplished something quite unique.
I'm normally quite hesitant to listen to the audio of a book that is narrated by its author, but Hare has done a really good job with this and has a lovely, soothing voice.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request via Audioboom and have voluntarily left this review.

A very good read!

This book is about the darker side of WW2 that is not so well known. It is extremely
well written with very vivid concise descriptions of each situation that one can easily empathise with it and believe that the author was part of it herself.

I work as a volunteer at Chartwell, Churchill’s family home, so it was a very relevant subject for me to know more about and some of the feelings towards Churchill
at the time.

The book is easy to listen to and who could be better to read the story but the author herself.

A Gripping Experience

With its wonderful descriptions beautifully read by Amanda Hale, with her gift of different accents, we felt as though we were IN the story and didn’t want to pause it - even for a second!

We would recommend it to anyone.

Ginny & Jim