How It All Began
A Novel
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How It All Began
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Narrated by:
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Anna Bentinck
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By:
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Penelope Lively
About this listen
When Charlotte is mugged and breaks her hip, her daughter, Rose, cannot accompany her employer, Lord Peters, to Manchester, which means his niece, Marion, has to go instead, which means she sends a text to her lover which is intercepted by his wife, which is…just the beginning of the ensuing chain of life-altering events.
In this engaging, utterly absorbing and brilliantly told novel, Penelope Lively shows us how one random event can cause marriages to fracture and heal themselves, opportunities to appear and disappear, lovers who might never have met to find each other, and entire lives to become irrevocably changed.
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- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 23 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4 out of 5 stars 58
A privileged girl from a privileged class, Eliza has a dazzling career in the magazine world of the 1960s. But when she falls deeply in love with Matt, an edgy working-class boy, she gives up her ritzy, fast-paced lifestyle to get married. By the end of the decade, however, their marriage has suffered a harrowing breakdown, culminating in divorce and a dramatic courtroom custody battle over their little girl. Also at risk is Eliza's gorgeous family home, a pawn in the game, which she can't bear to give up.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Like a box of chocolates...
- By Paul Hersh on 08-06-12
By: Penny Vincenzi
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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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At Home with the Templetons
- By: Monica McInerney
- Narrated by: Ulli Birve
- Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story4 out of 5 stars 53
When the Templeton family from England takes up residence in a stately home in country Australia, they set the locals talking – and with good reason. From the outside, the seven Templetons seem so bohemian, peculiar even. No one is more intrigued by the family than their neighbours, single mother Nina Donovan and her young son Tom. Before long, the two families' lives become entwined in unexpected ways.
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2 out of 5 stars
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A dreadful mistake
- By Julie on 11-14-10
By: Monica McInerney
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Mr Doubler Begins Again
- By: Seni Glaister
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 28
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 26
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Story5 out of 5 stars 26
Baked, mashed, boiled or fried, Mr Doubler knows his potatoes. But the same can’t be said for people. Since he lost his wife, he’s been on his own at Mirth Farm - and that suits Doubler just fine. Crowds are for other people; the only company he needs are his potato plants and his housekeeper, Mrs Millwood, who visits every day. So when Mrs Millwood is taken ill, it ruins everything - and Mr Doubler begins to worry that he might have lost his way. But could the kindness of strangers be enough to bring him down from the hill?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic book
- By Cole M Miller on 12-07-19
By: Seni Glaister
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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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Life Skills
- By: Katie Fforde
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 120
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
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Story4 out of 5 stars 73
Suddenly released from her engagement and out of work, Julia Fairfax is looking for a new direction in life. When a classified ad catches her eye, she embarks on a hilarious trip through the English canals in a rickety hotel boat. Along the way, she encounters hard-to-please guests, an unsettling ex-boyfriend, and the challenges of cooking in a tiny galley with rattling crockery.
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2 out of 5 stars
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This book starts out great-
- By erin on 12-01-06
By: Katie Fforde
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Hello from the Gillespies
- By: Monica McInerney
- Narrated by: Ulli Birvé
- Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 170
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 153
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Story4 out of 5 stars 156
For the past 33 years, Angela Gillespie has sent to friends and family around the world an end-of-the-year letter titled ‘Hello from the Gillespies’. It’s always been cheery and full of good news. This year, Angela surprises herself - she tells the truth....
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4 out of 5 stars
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Engaging
- By mgn on 08-18-15
By: Monica McInerney
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Flesh Wounds
- By: Richard Glover
- Narrated by: Richard Glover
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
A mother who invented her past, a father who was often absent, a son who wondered if this could really be his family...Richard Glover's favourite dinner-party game is called 'Who's Got the Weirdest Parents?' It's a game he always thinks he'll win. There was his mother, a deluded snob who made up large swathes of her past and who ran away with Richard's English teacher, a Tolkien devotee, nudist and stuffed toy collector.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Such a Meaningful Reflection
- By Awarenessing on 11-28-15
By: Richard Glover
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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 1,180
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,031
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,023
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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Talking It Over
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Steven Pacey, Alex Jennings, Clare Higgins
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 95
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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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Property
- Stories Between Two Novellas
- By: Lionel Shriver
- Narrated by: Lionel Shriver
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 46
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 44
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Story4 out of 5 stars 43
A striking new collection of ten short stories and two novellas that explores the idea of property in every meaning of the word, from the acclaimed New York Times best-selling author of the National Book Award finalist So Much for That and the international best seller We Need to Talk About Kevin.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Painful and drawn out
- By JR on 06-27-18
By: Lionel Shriver
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Things We Never Said
- By: Nick Alexander
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4 out of 5 stars 57
When Catherine learns that she is dying, she remembers the words her husband once jokingly uttered and decides to leave him the ultimate posthumous gift: a time capsule containing photographs of their life together along with tape recordings in which she recounts every secret she ever kept, every unspoken thought whether loving or treacherous - the things they never said.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Boring couple, Boring Book
- By Shell on 12-23-18
By: Nick Alexander
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The Bookshop on Rosemary Lane
- By: Ellen Berry
- Narrated by: Gabrielle Glaister
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 108
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 99
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Story4 out of 5 stars 101
Take a trip to the Yorkshire village of Burley Bridge, where a very special little cookbook shop is about to open its doors.... In the beginning...Kitty Cartwright has always solved her problems in the kitchen. Her cookbooks are her life, and there isn't an issue that 'Cooking with Aspic' can't fix. Her only wish is that she had a book entitled Rustling Up Dinner When Your Husband Has Left You. Forty years later.... On Rosemary Lane, Della Cartwright plans to open a very special little bookshop.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The Bookshop on Rosemary Lane
- By Nanette P. Riegert on 05-24-17
By: Ellen Berry
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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 129
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
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Story4 out of 5 stars 111
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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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
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 155
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 133
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Story4 out of 5 stars 135
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
What listeners say about How It All Began
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sue C
- 04-21-22
Why did I wait so long?
To begin with Anna Bentinck could read the telephone directory and I would probably listen more than once.Her reading is nothing short of extraordinary. 10**********.
This is the first book that I have read written by Penelope Lively.
I know it’s a cliché but I really couldn’t put it down. Anton learning to read,Rose’s husband trying to mend things. Henry reminding me of Mr Cazabon in George Eliot’s Middlemarch.This disparate group of characters leapt off the page. I was deeply moved and will probably listen to it again.
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