The Strange Adventures of H

By: Sarah Burton

Narrated by: Karen Cass

Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's Summary

Orphaned young, H is sent to live with her doting aunt in London. H’s life is a happy one until her lecherous cousin robs her of her innocence and the plague takes away the city and the people she loves. H is cast out – friendless, pregnant and destitute – into the rapidly emptying streets of London under quarantine.

Forced to fend for herself, she is determined to gain back the life she lost. H will face a villain out for revenge, find love in the most unexpected places and overcome a betrayal that she never could have foreseen. Weathering it all, can H charm, or scheme, her way to the life of freedom and independence that she longs for?

©2020 Sarah Burton (P)2020 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

This one.

It is outstanding!! Haven’t left a written review in a while as time is precious but I listen to TONS of audiobooks and this one stands out. I was surprised at the turn her life took early in H’s journey and the catalyst that brought her there. That was just the beginning of a vibrant story with laughs along the way - enhanced by amazing narration from Karen Cass :)

Slapstick Comedy at its best

I absolutely loved this book! What an amazing debut novel by Ms Burton. I am a huge fan of historical fiction so this book appealed to me straight away and I loved the front cover!
The Strange Adventures of H is very atmospheric of the time. The chapters depicting The Plague and The Great Fire of London were very well told and you almost felt like you were there. But this book is much more than its setting, it is satirical comedy at it's best.
The title of the book, The Strange Adventures of H is ingenious. It enables the author to create the different persona's of H, what does H stand for? H, Halcyen or Doll? For me H was a hugely likeable character, 'a tart with a heart.' Many of the other characters in the book are stereotypical of the time and are made to appear almost larger than life. The villainous cousin and his selfish wife, the Madam of a brothel who isn't all she seems, the wonderful 'say it as it is' best friend, the playhouse actor, the larger than life Earl, a 'fagin type' villain and some pompous relatives to name a few all contribute to this engaging story that has a true slapstick style about it.
My only criticism of the book is that I felt the ending was predictable and somewhat rushed. However it did not spoil this little gem of a book. A thoroughly enjoyable read which would appeal to fans of historical fiction and comedy alike.

Brilliant in Every Way

I adore historical fiction and read and listen to it avidly hence coming upon this gem of a book. I bought the Audible and Kindle version intending to both read and listen, the narration however was so utterly brilliant that I barely read it myself preferring to listen to Karen Cass’s wonderful reading bringing the colourful array of characters vividly to life. The protagonist H, was naturally my favourite character but each was described so well that it was easy to fall for them all, my other personal favourite was Godfrey. This was one of those rare books that I wished did not come to an end, I tried to prolong it by listening infrequently but found this impossible.
It reminded me somewhat of An Almond For A Parrot by Wray Delaney, and I love it so much that I will undoubtedly listen to it more than once (something I rarely do with any book). I so hope that Sarah Burton continues to write books in the historical vein, I will be preordering them if she does. I also intend to find other books narrated by Karen Cass as her style of reading and voice are just beautiful to listen to and went perfectly with this captivating book.

A page turner

I felt slightly breathless and a little more alive after to listening to this well plotted, well crafted, fast paced, saucy dash through the worst of times in 17th century London. It could have been deeply depressing, but somehow it managed to be quite the opposite.

Most enjoyable

Loved listening to this book, didn’t want it to end!
Will definitely be waiting for this authors next release x

All surface no depth - and rather glib

I appreciate this book is presumably supposed to be a sort of female rakes progress - but I found the main character unlikeable and the supporting characters cardboard thin. I persisted for aa long time as this is a time period I enjoy and have read much set in the same time, most recently the book directly before this by Antonia Hodgson, filled with stunning characters and interesting details.

This had all that... but somehow had me rolling my eyes rather than sympathising. I think possibly the narrators choices didn't help. I've read other books with Karen Cass narrating and been impressed, but here her performance seemed to make a light work even lighter.

Do check out other works in this period and save your credit till this is on sale, it's not worth a full credit imho.

Odd narration!

As a premise for a story I thought this looked appealing and I was really looking forward to it. As always I sampled the narration and although I wasn’t all that keen I thought perhaps it would grow on me, however it didn’t. I found the reading style like that of Siri or Alexa with an inflection that sounded very unreal (in fact my husband told me it had been read by a computer!)
Perhaps it’s just me as the reviews are good generally?! Personally this is one I will have to read myself I think.

Not my cup of tea

I purchased based on Amazon reviews. Sadly, the story was innocuous with no depth. I think it may be more suitable for Mills & Boon readers. I cannot fathom the v high reviews

Wonderfully funny

Enjoyed this title immensely...truly delightful story, written with great humour. Provided the chuckle so needed at the moment Excellent narration

Un-put downable

it has been a long time since I devoured a book as obsessively as this...i listened in every spare minute i had, even in 5 minute drives to the supermarket. I was completely engrossed. The writing and narration were original and brilliant. A classic rags to riches tale, all I can say is, you will not be disappointed. I promise.

Historical?

Disappointing. For me, the first few chapters lacked sufficient historical substance. I was expecting something similar to Philippa Gregory stories. Reasonable narration.