The Glassblower of Murano

By: Marina Fiorato

Narrated by: Cristian Solimeno, Kate Magowan

A wonderful combination of mystery, historical intrigue, and love, written by an English/Venetian author, which tells a story of passion, genius and betrayal linking the present and the past.

Nora Manin decides to leave her fractured life in London to start again in Venice, and there begins to unravel the story of her ancestor, Corradino Manin, the greatest artist of glass that the island of Murano ever produced.

©2009 Beautiful Books Ltd (P)2009 Beautiful Books Ltd

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Would you listen to The Glassblower of Murano again? Why?

Although I don't usually enjoy period pieces, I did love this. I loved the setting and enjoyed imagining Venice, Murano, France.

I really enjoyed the narrators but the sound levels were awful.

Female narrator was very quiet, male louder- but whispered often- and the music between was beautiful but piercingly loud. I was constantly turning my levels up and down.

Very enjoyable book.

The art of Murano glass and the art narration

Searching for one’s ancestry has become forefront. This will emphasize the possibility of unexpected truths presented.
The voices were excellent. The characters were portrayed well for such a short novel. And I happen to love Murano glass and Venice.
History repeats itself.

Music?

The music between chapters was overwhelming. The author’s words and the narrator were excellent. Plot got a little hokey at one point, but it recovered well. Fabulous setting.

Immerse yourself in Venice

A great book to get you in the mood to travel to Venice. I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the campos, the approaches to Venice, the historical aspects of Venice and glassblowing, and the way she set the mood of mystery that you feel when you walk the calles at night. The historical part of the novel was my favorite but I found that the modern part of the plot could have used a bit more development.

Audible, please, when you choose narrators, please give them a primer in pronunciation of the foreign language...so many errors but just know that Trattoria does not rhyme with Pretoria!

I highly recommend this book to anyone planning to go to Venice....where you will learn to properly pronounce the Italian words!

Enjoyable HF

Loved The Venetians Bargain!!! This story was very good with loud music in between chapters, disruptive.

Muzak and Melodrama

agree with others that blaring muzak disturbs what is mostly tranquil readings. but feel the male reader over performed in the early chapters, not trusting in the words to tell the story. also felt that the lack of detailed description about the glass making and more so about the mirrors was a diservice to the novel. the female character was many times a caricature of modern womanhood in crisis, aka identified through men, as her emotions were always a result of her pingponging off the male chatacters around her. ultimately a forgetable book which could have been forgiven if not for horrid disjointed blaring muzak.

Pronunciation

Is it too much to ask narrators to pronounce foreign words correctly? I cringe every time the narrator says "chiesa" or "pieta" or "trattoria" or...

Fascinating History

I enjoyed the story, the history, the imagery and the reading of this book very much. The only thing that I didn't like was the music, it was louder than the narration and always came as a shock. It ruined the rhythm of the book and was completely unnecessary.

Great Story and Narration!!

One of those listens that is hard to put down. The characters were believable. The story was interesting. And the narrators were spot on. The descriptions of the glassblowing were of such that you could almost convince yourself you actually saw it!!

The only thing I didn't like about the audio was the instrumental between chapters. The instrumental wasn't bad but the volume was, irritatingly, louder than the narration.

Captivating

This story had romance, mystery, history, art, and the setting was in Italy. What more could you want.