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Tigerlily's Orchids
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Nickolas Grace
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
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Publisher's Summary
From the incomparable, award-winning Ruth Rendell "the grand dame of British crime fiction" (The Gazette) comes her latest psychological thriller.
When Stuart Font decides to throw a house-warming party in his new flat, he invites everyone in his building. The party will be one everyone remembers. But not for the right reasons....
Living opposite, in reclusive isolation, is a young, beautiful Asian woman, christened Tigerlily by Stuart. As though from some strange urban fairytale, she emerges to exert a terrible spell on the occupants of Lichfield House.
Critic Reviews
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What listeners say about Tigerlily's Orchids
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Kathleen Rogers
- 07-03-11
Not as grimly creepy as many other Rendell titles
but a good listen, nonetheless. I guess this would be Rendell's version of a village mystery. The cast of characters are the residents of a small road in North London, some living in houses, some in apartments. The point of view shifts from one character to another, all of whom see what they want to see, and act accordingly. There are various crimes, some exciting amateur sleuthing, and some classically comedic plot turns--not farce, just some genuinely pleasant things that happen. Generally well read by the narrator, except for one or two moments of over the top falsetto for the female characters. Very enjoyable.
7 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Yennta
- 07-11-12
TERRIFIC Rendell, but lots of characters
What did you love best about Tigerlily's Orchids?
It was truly funny. An ironic humor is an aspect of all of Rendell, but usually there's less of it than here. It's grisly, too, I guess, a little, but the characters are ALL adorably misguided, and there are mysteries, but they seem secondary to the story
What was one of the most memorable moments of Tigerlily's Orchids?
Won't give anything away. No, no.
Which character – as performed by Nickolas Grace – was your favorite?
The old lady alcoholic, I can't remember her name.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It made me chuckle and grin.
Any additional comments?
At first I thought, "Oh, no! There are too many characters to keep track of in an audio book." There are 9 or ten. But the reader managed to convey who was being focussed on, and Rendell always, somehow, made each one distinct. I'm afraid if you leave long gaps between your listening intervals you might have trouble remembering who's who. That's why I didn't give the story five stars. It may not be easy for some listeners. But it is really absorbing, really fun.
3 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Lynn
- 12-09-22
Multigenerational slices of North London life
Wonderful one-third of the late Ruth Rendell's London trilogy. Funny, ironic and touching. Being Rendell, tragic too. Great reading performance enhances the experience.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Jacques
- 02-07-12
A good, light listen
Would you consider the audio edition of Tigerlily's Orchids to be better than the print version?
I never read the print version but had no trouble at all following this audible version.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Tigerlily's Orchids?
Shocked a bit by the nihilistic pessimism in the book. But I suppose that is the current state of affairs in the UK.
What about Nickolas Grace’s performance did you like?
He has a an appealing voice and a clear speaking style.
Any additional comments?
Story is about character development in the contemporary, interwoven style; life as a never ending soap opera. My first book by Rendell and found it to be a good listen to distract one on a commuter train.
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An absolute joy!
- By Amazon Customer on 05-24-19
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A Pleasure and a Calling
- A Novel
- By: Phil Hogan
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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You won't remember Mr. Heming. He was the estate agent who showed you around your comfortable home, suggested a financial package, negotiated a price with the owner, and called you with the good news. The less good news is that, all these years later, he still has the key. That's absurd, you laugh. Of all the many hundreds of houses he has sold, why would he still have the key to mine? The answer is; he has the keys to them all. William Heming's most at home in a stranger's private things.
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The Invisible Man
- By Janice on 02-05-15
By: Phil Hogan
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Agatha's First Case
- An Agatha Raisin Short Story
- By: M. C. Beaton
- Narrated by: Alison Larkin
- Length: 1 hr and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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At age 26 Agatha Raisin has already come a long way. She has clawed her way up since leaving the Birmingham slum where she was born. She's lost her Birmingham accent, run away from her drunken husband, and found a job at a public relations office as a secretary. Then her boss asks Agatha to go to the home of Sir Bryce Teller to tell him that he is soon to be arrested for the murder of his wife and that the agency no longer wants to represent him.
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Lightening Fast Short Origin Story
- By Wynne on 03-19-19
By: M. C. Beaton
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A Spot of Bother
- A Novel
- By: Mark Haddon
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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At 61, George Hall is settling down to a comfortable retirement. Then his tempestuous daughter, Katie, announces that she is getting remarried, to the deeply inappropriate Ray. Her family is not pleased and Katie can't decide if she loves Ray or loves the wonderful way he has with her son, Jacob. Her mother, Jean, is a bit put out by all the planning and arguing the wedding has occasioned, which get in the way of her quite fulfilling late-life affair with one of her husband's ex-colleagues.
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Bother with this one
- By Book Club Gal on 09-29-06
By: Mark Haddon
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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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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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This 'story' makes no sense to me
- By Pamela Donaldson on 05-10-17
By: Susan Hill
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The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4
- By: Sue Townsend
- Narrated by: Nicholas Barnes
- Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Meet Adrian Mole, a hapless teenager providing an unabashed, pimples-and-all glimpse into adolescent life. Writing candidly about his parents' marital troubles, the dog, and his life as a tortured poet and 'misunderstood intellectual', Adrian's painfully honest diary is still hilarious and compelling reading thirty years after it first appeared.
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Funny little book
- By K Sto on 06-04-18
By: Sue Townsend
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Blue Monday
- Frieda Klein, Book 1
- By: Nicci French
- Narrated by: Beth Chalmers
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Frieda Klein is a solitary, incisive psychotherapist who spends her sleepless nights walking along the ancient rivers that have been forced underground in modern London. She believes that the world is a messy, uncontrollable place. The abduction of five-year-old Matthew Farraday provokes a national outcry and a desperate police hunt. And when his face is splashed over the newspapers, Frieda cannot ignore the coincidence: one of her patients has been having dreams in which he has a hunger for just such a child.
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Engrossing thriller - an easy "read"
- By Hilary on 08-15-13
By: Nicci French
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Faith Fox
- By: Jane Gardam
- Narrated by: Piers Gibbon
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Faith Fox has led a life full of heartbreak and abandonment, lacking in simplicity and love - and she's not even one week old. She has suffered the unexpected and inexplicable loss of her mother in childbirth; her father, an overworked doctor grown callous with stress, has neither the ability nor the interest to take on the difficult task of raising his child alone; her grandmother, Thomasina, has decided to abscond to Egypt with a retired general rather than acknowledge and accept the loss of her daughter, whom she loved so distressingly well.
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Wonderfully funny and heartfelt
- By DMinVT on 07-10-22
By: Jane Gardam
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Case Histories
- A Novel
- By: Kate Atkinson
- Narrated by: Susan Jameson
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Case One: A little girl goes missing in the night. Case Two: A beautiful young office worker falls victim to a maniac's apparently random attack. Case Three: A new mother finds herself trapped in a hell of her own making - with a very needy baby and a very demanding husband - until a fit of rage creates a grisly, bloody escape.
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Trippy book
- By mary on 01-20-09
By: Kate Atkinson
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September
- By: Rosamunde Pilcher
- Narrated by: Jilly Bond
- Length: 20 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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A place you will never forget. Rosamunde Pilcher's Scotland...where the fields flourish with greenery, the bills bloom with purple, and the lochs glitter with the bright blue of the sky. A time you will never forget. September...when the heather is in full flower, the first chill of autumn cools the air, and the countryside stirs with the hunt, balls, dinner parties, and dance. Rosamunde Pilcher's September...a story of homecomings and heartbreaks, friendships, betrayals, forgiveness, and love.
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An old and much loved favorite
- By Jeanette Finan on 12-31-17
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Bad Dreams and Other Stories
- By: Tessa Hadley
- Narrated by: Emma Gregory
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Two sisters quarrel over an inheritance and a new baby; a child awake in the night explores the familiar rooms of her home, made strange by the darkness; a housekeeper caring for a helpless old man uncovers secrets from his past. The first steps into a turning point and a new life are made so easily and carelessly: Each of these stories illuminates a crucial moment of transition, often imperceptible to the protagonist.
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Small Objects, Big Insights
- By Cariola on 07-15-17
By: Tessa Hadley
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Innocent Blood
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Adopted as a child into a privileged family, Philippa Palfrey fantasizes that she is the daughter of an aristocrat and a parlor maid. The terrifying truth about her parents and a long-ago murder is only the first in a series of shocking betrayals. Philippa quickly learns that those who delve into the secrets of the past must be on guard when long-buried horrors begin to stir.
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A Classic British Mystery
- By Karen Vincent on 12-23-14
By: P. D. James