The House of Stairs
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The House of Stairs
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Narrated by:
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Annie Wauters
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By:
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Ruth Rendell
About this listen
When Lizzie and Bell meet for tea after nearly two decades apart, the topic of conversation is murder - one that Bell herself committed
When Elizabeth Vetch spots Bell for the first time in 17 years, she chases her down in order to learn why her old friend committed a terrible murder all those years ago. Bell has been in prison ever since the mysterious events that took place at the House of Stairs, a London mansion full of over-privileged, overstuffed, and somewhat sinister boarders, landed her there. Now it’s up to Lizzie to put together the pieces of her friend’s - and her own - fateful past.
As the story behind Bell’s crime unfolds, master of suspense Barbara Vine keeps readers guessing at the victim and the motive, letting the sword of Damocles hang over the heads of a fascinating and richly drawn cast of characters.
©2011 Open Road Integrated Media (P)2013 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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By: Judith Kinghorn
-
Half a Lifelong Romance
- A Novel
- By: Eileen Chang
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
Manzhen is a young worker in a Shanghai factory where she meets Shijun, the son of wealthy merchants. Despite family complications, they fall in love and begin to dream of a shared life together - until circumstances force them apart. When they are reunited after many years, can they start their relationship again? Or is it destined to be the romance of only half a lifetime?
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5 out of 5 stars
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super
- By Marcus Aurelius on 10-05-17
By: Eileen Chang
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The Best Man to Die
- An Inspector Wexford Mystery
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 178
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 147
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Story4 out of 5 stars 149
Who could have suspected that the exciting stag party for the groom would be the prelude to the murder of his close friend Charlie Hatton? And Charlie's death was only the first in a string of puzzling murders involving small-time gangsters, cheating husbands, and loose women. Now Chief Inspector Wexford and his assistant join forces with the groom to track down a killer....
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4 out of 5 stars
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Classic who-dunnit
- By Kathi on 02-24-13
By: Ruth Rendell
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Cold Hand in Mine
- By: Robert Aickman
- Narrated by: Reece Shearsmith
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 88
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 76
Cold Hand in Mine stands as one of Aickman's best collections and contains eight stories that show off his powers as a 'strange story' writer to the full. The listener is introduced to a variety of characters, from a man who spends the night in a Hospice to a German aristocrat and a woman who sees an image of her own soul. There is also a nod to the conventional vampire story ("Pages from a Young Girl's Journal") but all the stories remain unconventional and inconclusive, which perhaps makes them all the more startling and intriguing.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Aickman is unique
- By Stark on 08-19-23
By: Robert Aickman
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The Museum of Innocence
- By: Orhan Pamuk, Maureen Freely (translator)
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 20 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 326
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 246
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Story4 out of 5 stars 246
Kemal, scion of one of the city's wealthiest families, is about to become engaged to Sibel, daughter of another prominent family, when he encounters Füsun, a beautiful shopgirl and a distant relation. Once the long-lost cousins violate the code of virginity, a rift begins to open between Kemal and the world of the Westernized Istanbul bourgeosie - a world, as he lovingly describes it, with opulent parties and clubs, society gossip, picnics, and mansions on the Bosphorus, infused with the melancholy of decay.
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5 out of 5 stars
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one of the very best I've ever heard
- By Rebecca Lindroos on 03-06-10
By: Orhan Pamuk, and others
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Now, Voyager
- Femmes Fatales
- By: Olive Higgins Prouty
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
Boston blueblood Charlotte Vale has led an unhappy, sheltered life. Lonely, dowdy, repressed, and pushing 40, Charlotte finds salvation at a sanitarium, where she undergoes an emotional and physical transformation. After her extreme makeover, the new Charlotte tests her mettle by embarking on a cruise and finds herself in a torrid love affair with a married man which ends at the conclusion of the voyage. But only then can the real journey begin, as Charlotte is forced to navigate a new life for herself.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Inspiration for The Movie Classic
- By Susie on 12-17-12
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Brideshead Revisited
- By: Evelyn Waugh
- Narrated by: Jeremy Irons
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,310
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,007
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,987
Evelyn Waugh's most celebrated work is a memory drama about the intense entanglement of the narrator, Charles Ryder, with a great Anglo-Catholic family. Written during World War II, the story mourns the passing of the aristocratic world Waugh knew in his youth and vividly recalls the sensuous pleasures denied him by wartime austerities; in so doing it also provides a profound study of the conflict between the demands of religion and the desires of the flesh.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Extraordinary
- By Vieux Carré Blonde on 12-12-12
By: Evelyn Waugh
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The Razor's Edge
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,039
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 917
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 908
The Great War changed everything and everyone, and Larry Darrell is no exception. Though his physical wounds from the war heal, his spirit is changed almost beyond recognition. He leaves his betrothed, the beautiful and devoted Isabel; studies philosophy and religion in Paris; lives as a monk, and witnesses the exotic hardships of Spanish life. All of life that he can find - from an Indian Ashrama to labor in a coal mine - becomes Larry's spiritual experiment as he spurns the comfort and privilege of the Roaring 20s.
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4 out of 5 stars
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An Classic of Love and the Desire for Meaning
- By Eric on 01-06-17
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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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The Muse
- A Novel
- By: Jessie Burton
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Maria Elena Infantino
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 400
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 370
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 365
England, 1967. Odelle Bastien is a Caribbean émigré trying to make her way in London. When she starts working at the prestigious Skelton Institute of Art, she discovers a painting rumored to be the work of Isaac Robles, a young artist of immense talent and vision whose mysterious death has confounded the art world for decades. The excitement over the painting is matched by the intrigue around the conflicting stories of its discovery.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Mixed narration
- By Amy Fleury on 08-05-16
By: Jessie Burton
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Heat and Dust
- By: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
- Narrated by: Julie Christie
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 82
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 67
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Story4 out of 5 stars 67
In 1923 the beautiful, spoiled, and bored Olivia, married to Douglas and his career in the Indian Civil Service, outrages the English and Indian communities by eloping with an Indian prince. Fifty years later, Douglas’s granddaughter, armed with Olivia’s letters, goes back to the heat and dust and squalor of the bazaars to find out for herself how Olivia could have been so affected by India that she turned her back on her own country.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Short, Rich Novel
- By David P on 01-23-22
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Pietr the Latvian
- Inspector Maigret, Book 1
- By: Georges Simenon, David Bellos - translator
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 893
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 787
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 786
The first audiobook which appeared in Georges Simenon's famous Maigret series, in a gripping new translation by David Bellos.Inevitably Maigret was a hostile presence in the Majestic. He constituted a kind of foreign body that the hotel's atmosphere could not assimilate. Not that he looked like a cartoon policeman. He didn't have a moustache and he didn't wear heavy boots. His clothes were well cut and made of fairly light worsted. He shaved every day and looked after his hands. But his frame was proletarian. He was a big, bony man.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Long live Maigret
- By Adeliese Baumann on 11-19-14
By: Georges Simenon, and others
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Mr. Fox
- A Novel
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Carol Boyd
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 105
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 92
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 94
Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding and the fairy tales don't get complicated. In this book, celebrated writer Mr. Fox can't stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It's not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently....
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2 out of 5 stars
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A Great Novel, just Poor for Audio
- By James A. Dittes on 08-13-16
By: Helen Oyeyemi
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Grey Mask
- Miss Silver, Book 1
- By: Patricia Wentworth
- Narrated by: Diana Bishop
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 511
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 457
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Story4 out of 5 stars 458
The first of the classic mysteries featuring governess-turned-detective Miss Silver, who investigates a deadly conspiratorial ring. Charles Moray has come home to England to collect his inheritance. After four years wandering the jungles of India and South America, the hardy young man returns to the manor of his birth, where generations of Morays have lived and died. Strangely, he finds the house unlocked, and sees a light on in one of its abandoned rooms. Eavesdropping, he learns of a conspiracy to commit a fearsome crime.
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3 out of 5 stars
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The shaky first of a long, strong series
- By Phebe on 07-21-15
What listeners say about The House of Stairs
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Laura
- 04-30-13
Would rather have read it.
Would you try another book from Ruth Rendell and/or Annie Wauters?
Ruth Rendell, yes. Annie Wauters, no.
What didn’t you like about Annie Wauters’s performance?
Her reading was very measured with a little pause between each word, like she was aiming at an audience of octogenarians. And why didn't they pick an English reader??
Did The House of Stairs inspire you to do anything?
Stop reading it...but I persevered.
Any additional comments?
This novel was all tarnished glitz, unconvincing character development, and it appeared that by the end, even the author was bored with it, but not to say I want go back and buy and listen to some of her earlier work. Ruth Rendell is a wonderful writer, but this is not her best work.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 06-27-20
Awful reader
I was in a rush, so didn’t listen to the sample or read comments, trusting I’d be safe with Ruth Rendell as ever. What a mistake. The reading is frankly unbearable. I haven’t gotten more than 10 minutes in and I can’t stand any more. Just hoping Audible lets me exchange this clunker. I’ve learned my lesson for sure.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- TiffanyD
- 08-04-20
Classic "whydunnit"
Not a whodunnit (we know that immediately) but a why, how, and "who to." I've only read a couple of other Ruth Rendell novels (she wrote this under the Barbara Vine pseudonym) and while I like them and I enjoyed this one, they strike me as profoundly pessimistic about human relationships.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Robert
- 08-15-13
Story is good but the narrator nearly ruined it
Would you try another book from Ruth Rendell and/or Annie Wauters?
I have always liked Ruth Rendell's books and will continue to recommend her to others. I will not recommend Annie Wauters as a narrator. I have been much more impressed with Jenny Sterlin, Nigel Anthony, Julian Glover, and Davina Porter, who all narrate Ruth Rendell's books very well.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The House of Stairs?
The moment at which we realize the protagonist's relationship with Belle was romantic.
What didn’t you like about Annie Wauters’s performance?
Annie Wauters’s performance was stilted, dull, and mechanical. At many points it sounds as if she is simply reading a list of words. Her voice gives no hint of changes in scenes and barely (at most) distinguishes between characters.It was only because I know Ruth Rendell always delivers a good story that I stuck with it.
Was The House of Stairs worth the listening time?
Yes but barely because of the narration.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Charles O
- 06-29-21
Very challenging narration
The novel itself is quite remarkable, layered, intricate, worth contemplation.
However, it’s almost impossible to listen to Annie Wauters’s reading. She’s stilted, flat, and seemingly out of breath. Very distracting.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- bonnie m hascup
- 04-24-13
Such an irritating reader
What disappointed you about The House of Stairs?
The performance.
Would you ever listen to anything by Ruth Rendell again?
As a rule, I enjoy Ruth Rendell
How could the performance have been better?
The reader sounds like a short-winded smoker!
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
I can't even finish the first chapter because of the reader
Any additional comments?
Yes, I would like to return this audiobook
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Maria
- 05-27-17
Horrible narration
Great book, lousy narration. Guttural and slurry.
American accent strange choice for a story that takes place in England.
Great story though.
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1 person found this helpful