BBC National Short Story Award 2010 (5 Shortlisted Titles)
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BBC National Short Story Award 2010 (5 Shortlisted Titles)
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Narrated by:
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Emma Rydal
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Ron Cook
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Sirine Saba
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Hugh Quarshie
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Sian Thomas
About this listen
The 5 shortlisted titles for the BBC National Short Story Award 2010 administered in partnership with Booktrust, containing:
Tea at the Midland by David Constantine, David Constantine 2010
Haywards Heath by Aminatta Forna, Aminatta Forna 2010
Butcher’s Perfume by Sarah Hall, Sarah Hall 2010
If It Keeps on Raining by Jon McGregor, Jon McGregor 2010
My Daughter the Racist by Helen Oyeyemi, Helen Oyeyemi 2010
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-
Story4 out of 5 stars 41
Anna O’Shea has failed at marriage, shed her job at a law firm, and she’s trying to re-create herself when she and her recalcitrant nephew are summoned to the past in a manner that nearly destroys them. Her twenty-first-century skills pale as she struggles to find her nephew in nineteenth-century Ireland. For one of them, the past is brutally difficult, filled with hunger and struggle. For the other, the past is filled with privilege, status, and a reprieve from the crushing pain of present-day life. For both Anna and her nephew, the past offers them a chance at love.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved This Book
- By Janina on 03-07-17
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The Wild Hunt
- By: Emma Seckel
- Narrated by: Ruth Urquhart
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
Leigh Welles has not set foot in on the island in years, but when she finds herself called home from a disappointing life on the Scottish mainland by her father's unexpected death, she is determined to forget the sorrows of the past and start fresh. Fellow islander Iain MacTavish, a RAF veteran with his eyes on the sky and his head in the past, is also in desperate need of a new beginning. A young widower, Iain struggles to return to the normal life he knew before the war. But this October is anything but normal. This October, the sluagh are restless.
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5 out of 5 stars
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one of my favorite books ever
- By Cait on 11-02-24
By: Emma Seckel
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The Pearl Thief
- By: Elizabeth Wein
- Narrated by: Maggie Service
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,366
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,246
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,240
From the internationally acclaimed best-selling author of Code Name Verity comes a stunning new story of pearls, love and murder. Sixteen-year-old Julie Beaufort-Stuart is returning to her family's ancestral home in Perthshire for one last summer. It is not an idyllic return to childhood. Her grandfather's death has forced the sale of the house and estate, and this will be a summer of good-byes. Not least to the McEwen family - Highland travellers who have been part of the landscape for as long as anyone can remember.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Freshwater Pearls and Scottish Plaid
- By Cynthia on 08-14-17
By: Elizabeth Wein
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Our Story Begins
- New and Selected Stories
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 193
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 141
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 136
Wolff here returns with fresh revelations - about biding one's time, or experiencing first love, or burying one's mother - that come to a variety of characters in circumstances at once everyday and extraordinary. A retired Marine enrolls in college while her son trains for Iraq. A lawyer takes a difficult deposition. An American in Rome indulges the Gypsy who's picked his pocket.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great
- By chris on 04-11-08
By: Tobias Wolff
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The Canal Bridge
- A Novel of Ireland, Love, and the First World War
- By: Tom Phelan
- Narrated by: Paul Nugent
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
In 1913, before there is a rumor of war in Europe, Matthias Wrenn and Con Hatchel, lifelong friends from Ballyrannel in the Irish midlands, decide to see the world at the expense of the king of England and join the British army. A year later, while en route to India, their troop ship is recalled and they soon find themselves in the European slaughterhouse that was World War I.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful, disturbing and unforgettable
- By Kathy on 05-25-16
By: Tom Phelan
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The White Woman on the Green Bicycle
- By: Monique Roffey
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 95
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 88
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Story4 out of 5 stars 87
A beautifully written, unforgettable novel of a troubled marriage, set against the lush landscape and political turmoil of Trinidad. Monique Roffey's Orange Prize-shortlisted novel is a gripping portrait of post-colonialism that stands among great works by Caribbean writers like Jamaica Kincaid and Andrea Levy. When George and Sabine Harwood arrive in Trinidad from England, George is immediately seduced by the beguiling island, while Sabine feels isolated, heat-fatigued, and ill-at-ease.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing.
- By Crystal on 10-31-12
By: Monique Roffey
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A Golden Age
- A Novel
- By: Tahmima Anam
- Narrated by: Madhur Jaffrey
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
As young widow Rehana Haque awakes one March morning, she might be forgiven for feeling happy. Today she will throw a party for her son and daughter. In the garden of the house she has built, her roses are blooming, her children are almost grown, and beyond their doorstep, the city is buzzing with excitement after recent elections. Change is in the air.
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5 out of 5 stars
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sad, poignant, thought-provoking, beautiful
- By Rio Delta Wild on 06-04-08
By: Tahmima Anam
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Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories
- By: Kelly Link - editor, Gavin J. Grant - editor
- Narrated by: Sarah Coomes, Nico Evers-Swindell, Shannon McManus, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 110
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 93
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Story4 out of 5 stars 94
Imagine an alternate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and recraft a world of automatons, ornate clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, and intrepid orphans - decked out in corsets, clockwerk suits, and tall black boots - solve dastardly crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships.
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4 out of 5 stars
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MMMM, Orca Bacon
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 09-14-13
By: Kelly Link - editor, and others
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Some Kind of Fairy Tale
- A Novel
- By: Graham Joyce
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 610
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 545
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 544
Twenty years ago, 16-year-old Tara Martin disappeared from a small town in the heart of England. Now, her sudden return and the mind-bending tale of where she’s been will challenge our very perception of the truth. For 20 years after Tara Martin disappeared, her parents and her brother, Peter, lived in denial of the grim fact that she was gone for good. Then suddenly on Christmas Day, the doorbell rings at her parents’ home, and there, dishevelled and slightly peculiar looking, Tara stands. It’s a miracle, but alarm bells are ringing for Peter. Tara’s story just does not add up.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Extremely Well Done
- By Amanda on 07-11-12
By: Graham Joyce
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Bullet in the Brain
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 281
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 253
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 251
Anders is an angry, cynical man. A book critic known for his scathing reviews, he finds any excuse to dismiss, belittle, or insult. This afternoon is no more agitating than the next. Angers finds himself in a long line at the bank, waiting to reach a teller. Even after two men - wearing masks and carrying guns - take control of the building, Anders is unfazed. It's this behavior that lands him with a pistol against his stomach and a man screamingin his face. And when the bank robber, indignant over Anders' behavior, shoots the book critic in the head, his mind floats through the memories of his life, settling on one particular event....
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Perfect Example
- By Sarah on 08-01-17
By: Tobias Wolff
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The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 4
- By: Ellen Datlow - author/editor, Stephen King, Peter Straub
- Narrated by: Meredith Mitchell, Rebecca Mitchell, Michael Healy, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 220
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 202
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 201
With tales from Laird Barron, Stephen King, John Langan, Peter Straub, and many others, and featuring Datlow’s comprehensive overview of the year in horror, now, more than ever, The Best Horror of the Year provides the petrifying horror fiction readers have come to expect - and enjoy.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Only a few decent stories in this bunch.
- By Jerry on 12-06-14
By: Ellen Datlow - author/editor, and others
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The Wolf Border
- By: Sarah Hall
- Narrated by: Louise Brealey
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 107
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
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Story4 out of 5 stars 95
For almost a decade, Rachel Caine has turned her back on home, kept distant by family disputes and her work monitoring wolves on an Idaho reservation. But now, summoned by the eccentric Earl of Annerdale and his controversial scheme to reintroduce the grey wolf to the English countryside, she is back in the peat and wet light of the Lake District. The earl's project harks back to an ancient idyll of untamed British wilderness.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Marvelous.
- By V on 05-27-15
By: Sarah Hall
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The Wicked Girls
- By: Alex Marwood
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 3,824
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 3,463
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Story4 out of 5 stars 3,459
On a fateful summer morning in 1986, two 11-year-old girls meet for the first time. By the end of the day, they will both be charged with murder. Twenty-five years later, journalist Kirsty Lindsay is reporting on a series of sickening attacks on young female tourists in a seaside vacation town when her investigation leads her to interview carnival cleaner Amber Gordon. For Kirsty and Amber, it's the first time they've seen each other since that dark day so many years ago.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I didn't want to like these girls...
- By Lesley on 08-30-13
By: Alex Marwood
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Lighthouse Bay
- By: Kimberley Freeman
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,131
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,035
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,030
This breathtaking novel travels more than a century between two love stories set in the Australian seaside town of Lighthouse Bay. In 1901, a ship sinks off the coast of Lighthouse Bay in Australia. The only survivor is Isabella Winterbourne - escaping her loveless marriage and the devastating loss of her son - who clutches a priceless gift meant for the Australian Parliament. Suddenly, this gift could be her ticket to a new life, free from the bonds of her husband and his overbearing family.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent story!
- By Kate B. on 11-30-17
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Gypsy Boy
- By: Mikey Walsh
- Narrated by: Mikey Walsh
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 82
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 75
Mikey's family were Gypsies. They live in a closed community and little is known about their way of life. As he didn't go to school, the caravan became his world. But although Mikey inherited a vibrant culture, his family had a dark hidden history. Eventually Mikey was forced to make a decision – to stay and keep secrets, or escape and find somewhere to belong.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Beaten up
- By Bel on 06-10-21
By: Mikey Walsh
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Augustown
- By: Kei Miller
- Narrated by: Dona Croll
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 133
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 118
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 119
Ma Taffy may be blind, but she sees everything. So when her great-nephew Kaia comes home from school in tears, what she senses sends a deep fear running through her. While they wait for his mama to come home from work, Ma Taffy recalls the story of the flying preacherman and a great thing that did not happen. A poor suburban sprawl in the Jamaican heartland, Augustown is a place where many things that should happen don't, and plenty of things that shouldn't happen do.
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5 out of 5 stars
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SUPERB
- By ** on 06-25-17
By: Kei Miller