When Will There Be Good News?

A Novel

De: Kate Atkinson

Narrado por: Ellen Archer

The third installment in Kate Atkinson's wildly beloved series of Jackson Brodie Mysteries: a complex tale of murder, coincidence, and connected lives.

On a hot summer day, Joanna Mason's family slowly wanders home along a country lane. A moment later, Joanna's life is changed forever...

On a dark night thirty years later, ex-detective Jackson Brodie finds himself on a train that is both crowded and late. Lost in his thoughts, he suddenly hears a shocking sound...

At the end of a long day, 16-year-old Reggie is looking forward to watching a little TV. Then a terrifying noise shatters her peaceful evening. Luckily, Reggie makes it a point to be prepared for an emergency...

These three lives come together in unexpected and deeply thrilling ways in the latest novel from Kate Atkinson, the critically acclaimed author who Harlan Coben calls "an absolute must-read."

"As a reader, I was charmed. As a novelist, I was staggered by Kate Atkinson's narrative wizardry." -- Stephen King

Reseñas de la Crítica

"... The story is delivered perfectly by narrator Ellen Archer. She is fully and completely aware of the undertones in most of her characters' voices, and when she captures them, she creates a stirring experience for the audience."—Publishers Weekly

"Audie Award winner Ellen Archer...captures each character's nuances well. Highly recommended."—Library Journal

Great story, irritating narration

Atkinson delivers a fine story, as nuanced and compelling as any of her others but the narrator nearly did me in. Her British accent is passable enough but her attempts at a Scottish or Irish accent were awful. Terribly distractingly awful. She wavered between a weird Russian and a weirder Mexican pronunciation that almost stopped me listening. Ugh. And unfortunately many of the characters are either Scottish or Irish.

Unusual and Distracting Accent

I’m originally from the UK, and as all Kate Atkinson’s novels from this series are set there, it makes sense for narrator to have a British accent of some kind. The story, as usual, is fantastic - but the put-on British accent of the narrator is not good at all. Vowel sounds are completely wrong, and I know no one from back home that talks like that. When I looked up the Narrator online, it turns out she’s American - no surprise to anyone, but makes me wonder why an English voice actor wasn’t hired instead.

Godawful accents

When a book is set predominantly in Scotland, it is vital that the narrator can sustain a Scottish accent for significant lengths of time - potentially while shifting to other dialects in the UK, like England or Ireland. By the end of this book, it was like being at a party of university drama students drunkenly having a tea party (having been one of those students I have first-hand knowledge of what it sounds like - it ain't pretty).

Disappointing narration

I love love Kate Atkinson novels - and that’s why I listened to all of this one - but the narration almost made me quit on several occasions! Most of the time, she seemed to read in a “normal” voice - but it varied. I don’t know where this narrator originated - but her supposed Scots and Irish accents were appalling and there were even some English words that made me suspect she wasn’t British. I’d rather have listened to the book spoken with “normal” US accents than the phony nonsense accents used here. I know it’s easy to be a critic - but surely there are voice actors of a higher caliber for novels this good!

Appalling narration; great book

This book is mostly set in Scotland. It is therefore mystifying why this narrator was chosen for this performance. Curiously the narrator actually has an American accent which she has eschewed in favor of an English accident that makes Dick van Dyke sound like Laurence Olivier. But the scale of the narrator’s assault on the English accent pales in comparison to the Scottish accents, which verge between laughable and ludicrous. Kate Atkinson should sue.