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The Importance of Being Seven
- Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
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The Importance of Being Seven
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Publisher's summary
Perhaps best known for his No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, #1 New York Times best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith delights fans around the world with his warmhearted 44 Scotland Street novels. In the series’ sixth entry, the residents of 44 Scotland Street grapple with problems both trivial and severe, but none so great as when six-year-old Bertie Pollock - who longs to be seven - mislays his mum and learns a valuable lesson about wish fulfillment.
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44 Scotland Street
- By: Alexander McCall Smith
- Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,790
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,420
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,416
The brilliant Alexander McCall Smith became an international sensation with his New York Times best-selling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels. His award-winning wit, made famous through that series, is fully on display in 44 Scotland Street.
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- By: Alexander McCall Smith
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 26
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
In this dual collection of short stories, Alexander McCall Smith brings his trademark humor and warmth to inventive tales of spying and vengeance. In one story, a spy dropped deep into enemy territory manages to disguise himself—quite convincingly—as a nun. In another, an invitation to join the Vatican Secret Service sends a prospective operative down a rabbit hole of controversy and confusion. A third story finds an author, on the brink of public ruin, seeing the error of his ways after an act of kindness saves the day.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant
- By C. Gall on 12-12-23
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The Strange Case of the Moderate Extremists
- By: Alexander McCall Smith
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 2 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 98
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 84
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 83
Detective Ulf Varg from the Department of Sensitive Crimes is often called upon to investigate unusual matters. But rarely is he asked to conduct an inquiry on behalf of his own family. Is such a thing ethical? Adding to Ulf's moral discomfort is the fact that he does not exactly see eye to eye with his younger brother Bjorn - a leading player in one of Sweden's right-wing parties, the Moderate Extremists. Still, family is family, so Ulf finds himself working to uncover the mole leaking secrets to a rival party, the Extreme Moderates.
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4 out of 5 stars
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I wanted to know who did what.
- By A. Bohn on 07-31-20
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The Sunday Philosophy Club
- An Isabel Dalhousie Mystery
- By: Alexander McCall Smith
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 922
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 599
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 593
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5 out of 5 stars
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Advice For Prospective Listeners
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The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
- By: Alexander McCall Smith
- Narrated by: Lisette Lecat
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Mma "Precious" Ramotswe sets up a detective agency in Botswana on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, making her the only female detective in the country. At first, cases are hard to come by. But eventually, troubled people come to Precious with a variety of concerns. Potentially philandering husbands, seemingly schizophrenic doctors, and a missing boy who may have been killed by witch doctors all compel Precious to roam about in her tiny van, searching for clues.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Transcends its Genre
- By Gene on 12-07-03
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My Italian Bulldozer
- By: Alexander McCall Smith
- Narrated by: Timothy Ackroyd
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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When writer Paul Stewart heads to the idyllic Italian town of Montalcino to finish his already late book, it seems like the perfect escape from stressful city life. Upon landing, however, things quickly take a turn for the worse when he discovers his hired car is nowhere to be found. With no record of any reservation and no other cars available, it looks like Paul is stuck at the airport. That is, until an enterprising stranger offers him an unexpected alternative.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Suffused with Wisdom and Humor
- By SW Clemens on 04-17-17
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44 Scotland Street
- By: Alexander McCall Smith
- Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,790
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,420
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,416
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-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Smith's answer to Maupin
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The Private Life of Spies and The Exquisite Art of Getting Even
- Stories
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- Narrated by: David Rintoul
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- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 26
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
In this dual collection of short stories, Alexander McCall Smith brings his trademark humor and warmth to inventive tales of spying and vengeance. In one story, a spy dropped deep into enemy territory manages to disguise himself—quite convincingly—as a nun. In another, an invitation to join the Vatican Secret Service sends a prospective operative down a rabbit hole of controversy and confusion. A third story finds an author, on the brink of public ruin, seeing the error of his ways after an act of kindness saves the day.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant
- By C. Gall on 12-12-23
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The Strange Case of the Moderate Extremists
- By: Alexander McCall Smith
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- Length: 2 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 98
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 84
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 83
Detective Ulf Varg from the Department of Sensitive Crimes is often called upon to investigate unusual matters. But rarely is he asked to conduct an inquiry on behalf of his own family. Is such a thing ethical? Adding to Ulf's moral discomfort is the fact that he does not exactly see eye to eye with his younger brother Bjorn - a leading player in one of Sweden's right-wing parties, the Moderate Extremists. Still, family is family, so Ulf finds himself working to uncover the mole leaking secrets to a rival party, the Extreme Moderates.
-
4 out of 5 stars
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I wanted to know who did what.
- By A. Bohn on 07-31-20
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The Sunday Philosophy Club
- An Isabel Dalhousie Mystery
- By: Alexander McCall Smith
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- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 599
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 593
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-
5 out of 5 stars
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Advice For Prospective Listeners
- By DCinMI on 02-18-13
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- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 5,727
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,882
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5 out of 5 stars
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Transcends its Genre
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5 out of 5 stars
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Suffused with Wisdom and Humor
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Chance Developments
- Stories
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- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 55
It is said that a picture may be worth a thousand words, but an old photograph can inspire many more. In this beguiling book, Alexander McCall Smith casts his eye over five chanced-upon photographs from the era of black-and-white photography and imagines the stories behind them. Who were those people, what were their stories, why are they smiling, what made them sad?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Several "I wish that I had written that..."
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Corduroy Mansions
- A Novel
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- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
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- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 648
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 506
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Story4 out of 5 stars 508
In London’s Pimlico neighborhood lies a tenement described in architectural guides as “a building of no interest whatsoever.” But the residents of Corduroy Mansions—including a literary agent, a wine merchant, a thoroughly unpleasant member of Parliament, and a vegetarian dog—are a rather fascinating lot.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Oedipus Snark, MP
- By connie on 04-25-12
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The Pavilion in the Clouds
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- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 82
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 62
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
It is 1938 and the final days of the British Empire. In a bungalow high up in the green hills above the plains of Ceylon, under a vast blue sky, live the Ferguson family: Bella, a precocious eight-year-old; her father Henry—owner of Pitlochry, a tea plantation—and her mother Virginia. The story centres around the Pavilion in the Clouds, set in the idyllic grounds carved out of the wilderness. But all is not as serene as it seems. Bella is suspicious of her governess, Miss White’s intentions.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Get Over It
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The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 414
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 374
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 371
Val Eliot, a young woman working on an English farm during the war, meets Mike, a US Air Force pilot stationed nearby. When Val rescues a Border Collie named Peter Woodhouse, who is being mistreated by his owner, she realizes the dog would actually be safer with Mike. And so Peter Woodhouse finds a new home on the air force base, and Val finds herself falling in love.
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5 out of 5 stars
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wonderful
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44 Scotland Street: The Complete Series 1-5
- Full-Cast BBC Radio Adaptations of the Much-Loved Novels
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- Original Recording
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 9
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 9
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9
The complete BBC radio adaptations of Alexander McCall's bestselling series. Inspired by Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, 44 Scotland Street started life as a serial in The Scotsman. It was a huge hit, and was soon novelised, adapted on stage and dramatised for BBC Radio 4. Collected here are all five radio series, in which we follow the interconnected lives of the residents of adjoining flats in a tenement in Edinburgh's Georgian New Town.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very entertaining
- By Anonymous User on 09-26-23
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Tiny Tales
- Stories of Romance, Ambition, Kindness, and Happiness
- By: Alexander McCall Smith
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- Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
From the original Greek financial crisis (when the profligate Gods of Olympus were punished by Odin and the other Norse Gods for their unchecked spending) to a handy unintended benefit of cosmetic surgery; from Pope Ron (the first Australian pope, who wants nothing more than to live quietly) to a rather droll cat named Stanley to Good President Wenceslas (benevolent leader of a snowy land) - these stories are by turns funny, poignant, and deliciously wicked, each one a gift begging to be unwrapped and enjoyed again and again.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Wonderful Collection of Pithy Stories
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Trains and Lovers
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- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 133
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 115
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Story4 out of 5 stars 113
In the words of Alexander McCall Smith: "You feel the rocking of the train, you hear the sound of its wheels on the rails; you are in the world rather than suspended somewhere above it. And sometimes there are conversations to be had, which is what the overarching story in this collection is all about. It is a simple device: people brought together entertain one another with tales of what happened to them on trains. It takes place on a journey I frequently make myself and know well, the journey between Edinburgh and London. It is best read on a train, preferably that one."
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved It
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La's Orchestra Saves the World
- A Novel
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- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 206
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 125
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Story4 out of 5 stars 122
In 1939, Lavender flees London to escape the German bombs and her shattered marriage. Settling in a small town, she pulls together a makeshift orchestra to help cope with the times.
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5 out of 5 stars
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McCall Smith Does It Again!
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Masked Ball at Broxley Manor
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,153
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,874
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,869
At the end of her first unsuccessful season out in society, Lady Georgiana has all but given up on attracting a suitable man - until she receives an invitation to a masked Halloween ball at Broxley Manor. Georgie is uncertain why she was invited, until she learns that the royal family intends to marry her off to a foreign prince, one reputed to be mad.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Fun, light prequel
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Murder at the Spring Ball
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 548
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 504
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England, 1925. After years shut away from the world, former detective Lord Edgington of Cranley Hall plans a grand ball to celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday. But when someone starts bumping off members of his scheming family, the old man enlists his teenage grandson to help find the killer, before one of them is next.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not that great
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By: Benedict Brown
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A Long Time Dead
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 543
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 499
D.I. Duncan McAdam is dispatched home to the Misty Isle. A body has been found buried in a remote location on the Waternish peninsula. Well-preserved in the peat, Isla Matheson—missing for the better part of two decades—is revealed to a shocked island community. A teenage runaway is dead...and no one is talking.
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5 out of 5 stars
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totally enjoyed this
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Beautiful Ruins
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The story begins in 1962. On a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline, a young innkeeper, chest-deep in daydreams, looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and spies an apparition: a tall, thin woman, a vision in white, approaching him on a boat. She is an actress, he soon learns, an American starlet, and she is dying. And the story begins again today, half a world away, when an elderly Italian man shows up on a movie studio's back lot - searching for the mysterious woman he last saw at his hotel decades earlier.
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3 out of 5 stars
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My mind wandered
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Murder at the Mill
- A Mystery (Iris Grey Mysteries, Book 1)
- By: M. B. Shaw
- Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 77
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 69
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Story4 out of 5 stars 69
Iris Grey rents a quaint cottage in a picture-perfect Hampshire village, looking to escape from her crumbling marriage. She is drawn to the neighboring Wetherby family and is commissioned to paint a portrait of Dominic Wetherby, a celebrated crime writer. At the Wetherby's Christmas Eve party, the mulled wine is in full flow - but so are tensions and rivalries among the guests. On Christmas Day, the youngest member of the Wetherby family, Lorcan, finds a body in the water. A tragic accident? Or a deadly crime?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Iris Grey Mysteries
- By Beatrice on 12-09-18
By: M. B. Shaw
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What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
- Stories
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon, Piter Marek, Bahni Turpin
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 154
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 132
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Story4 out of 5 stars 134
In "Books and Roses", one special key opens a library, a garden, and clues to at least two lovers' fates. In "Is Your Blood as Red as This?", an unlikely key opens the heart of a student at a puppeteering school. "'Sorry' Doesn't Sweeten Her Tea" involves a "house of locks", where doors can be closed only with a key - with surprising unobservable developments. And in "If a Book Is Locked There's Probably a Good Reason for That Don't You Think", a key keeps a mystical diary locked (for good reason).
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5 out of 5 stars
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clever
- By jared rogerson on 03-15-18
By: Helen Oyeyemi
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Talking It Over
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Steven Pacey, Alex Jennings, Clare Higgins
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 94
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
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Story4 out of 5 stars 84
Introducing Stuart, Gillian and Oliver. One by one they take their turn to speak straight out to the camera - and give their side of a contemporary love triangle. What begins as a comedy of misunderstanding slowly darkens and deepens into a compelling exploration of the quagmires of the heart.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Narrative Gimmick Works
- By Alan on 11-22-11
By: Julian Barnes
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Past Imperfect
- By: Julian Fellowes
- Narrated by: Richard Morant
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,179
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,030
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,022
Damian Baxter is hugely wealthy and dying. He lives alone in a big house in Surrey, England, looked after by a chauffeur, butler, cook and housemaid. He has but one concern--his fortune in excess of 500 million and who should inherit it on his death.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Read Snobs instead
- By cristina on 02-14-13
By: Julian Fellowes
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The Good Liar
- A Novel
- By: Nicholas Searle
- Narrated by: Matthew Brenher
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 163
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 148
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Story4 out of 5 stars 148
Veteran con artist Roy spots an obvious easy mark when he meets Betty, a wealthy widow, online. In no time at all, he's moved into Betty's lovely cottage and is preparing to accompany her on a romantic trip to Europe. Betty's grandson disapproves of their blossoming relationship, but Roy is sure this scheme will be a success. He knows what he's doing. As this remarkable feat of storytelling weaves together Roy's and Betty's futures, it also unwinds their pasts.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Hope the movie is better than the book?
- By S. Smith on 10-17-19
By: Nicholas Searle
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Mrs. Tim of the Regiment
- By: D. E. Stevenson
- Narrated by: Christine Rendel
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 126
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 113
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 113
Vivacious, young Hester Christie tries to run her home like clockwork, as would befit the wife of British Army officer, Tim Christie. However hard Mrs Tim strives for seamless living amidst the other army wives, she is always moving flat-out to remember groceries, rule lively children, side-step village gossip and placate her husband with bacon, eggs, toast and marmalade. Left alone for months at a time whilst her husband is with his regiment, Mrs Tim resolves to keep a diary of events large and small in her family life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Life as a military wife
- By Jerri C on 03-09-13
By: D. E. Stevenson
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Three Daughters of Eve
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Alix Dunmore
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 227
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 207
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Story4 out of 5 stars 208
Set across Istanbul and Oxford, from the 1980s to the present day, Three Daughters of Eve is a sweeping tale of faith and friendship, tradition and modernity, love and an unexpected betrayal. Peri, a wealthy Turkish housewife and mother, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground - an old polaroid of three young women and their university professor.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Review 3 daughters of Eve
- By CA on 04-28-18
By: Elif Shafak
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The District Nurses of Victory Walk
- By: Annie Groves
- Narrated by: Alex Tregear
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 98
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 87
Alice Lake has arrived in London from Liverpool to start her training as a District Nurse, but her journey has been far from easy. Her parents think that she should settle down and get married, but she has already had her heart broken once and isn’t about to make the same mistake again. Alice and her best friend, Edith, are based in the East End, but before they’ve even got their smart new uniforms on, war breaks out, and Hitler’s bombs are raining down on London.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A Look at the Role of the District Nurse
- By Jean on 04-30-19
By: Annie Groves
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Lavender Road
- By: Helen Carey
- Narrated by: Annie Aldington
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 44
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 38
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 37
Lavender Road boasts a pawnbroker, a pub, two rows of terraced working class homes, and, at one end, the big house owned by the local brewer. When war breaks out, the lives and fortunes of the families who live in Lavender Road are changed out of all recognition.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great story with wonderful, believable characters!
- By Kathleen Bailey on 03-27-24
By: Helen Carey
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Cold Hand in Mine
- By: Robert Aickman
- Narrated by: Reece Shearsmith
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 87
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 75
Cold Hand in Mine stands as one of Aickman's best collections and contains eight stories that show off his powers as a 'strange story' writer to the full. The listener is introduced to a variety of characters, from a man who spends the night in a Hospice to a German aristocrat and a woman who sees an image of her own soul. There is also a nod to the conventional vampire story ("Pages from a Young Girl's Journal") but all the stories remain unconventional and inconclusive, which perhaps makes them all the more startling and intriguing.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Aickman is unique
- By Stark on 08-19-23
By: Robert Aickman
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Staying On
- By: Paul Scott
- Narrated by: Paul Shelley
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 76
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 75
Tusker and Lily Smalley stayed on in India. Given the chance to return ‘home’ when Tusker, once a Colonel in the British Army, retired, they chose instead to remain in the small hill town of Pankot, with its eccentric inhabitants and archaic rituals left over from the days of the Empire. Only the tyranny of their imposing landlady threatens to upset the quiet rhythm of their days.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A Pleasant Meander
- By Ian C Robertson on 09-22-14
By: Paul Scott
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Hero: A Simon Serrailler Short Story
- By: Susan Hill
- Narrated by: Steven Pacey
- Length: 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 128
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 111
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Story4 out of 5 stars 110
When Simon Serrailler was a rookie constable with the Met, he did something reckless in the course of a night's work which caused a man's death. But his act was praised by his colleagues, and he was called a hero. Years later, now a detective chief superintendent who has been badly injured in the course of duty, he receives a medal for bravery at Buckingham Palace while recollecting that fateful night of his early career, when chance disguised itself as bravery.
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4 out of 5 stars
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This 'story' makes no sense to me
- By Pamela Donaldson on 05-10-17
By: Susan Hill
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Us: A Novel
- By: David Nicholls
- Narrated by: David Haig
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 858
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 765
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Story4 out of 5 stars 769
Douglas Petersen may be mild-mannered, but behind his reserve lies a sense of humor that seduces beautiful Connie into a second date...and eventually into marriage. Now, almost three decades later, they live more or less happily in the London suburbs with their moody seventeen year-old son, Albie. Then Connie tells him she thinks she wants a divorce. The timing couldn’t be worse. Connie has planned a month-long tour of European capitals, a chance to experience the world’s greatest works of art as a family, and she can’t bring herself to cancel. And maybe going ahead is for the best anyway? Douglas is privately convinced that this landmark trip will rekindle the romance in the marriage, and might even help him to bond with Albie. Narrated from Douglas’s endearingly honest, slyly witty, and at times achingly optimistic point of view, Us is the story of a man trying to rescue his relationship with the woman he loves, and learning how to get closer to a son who’s always felt like a stranger.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great novel - my favorite in years
- By Mark on 07-21-15
By: David Nicholls