The Private Life of Spies
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The Private Life of Spies
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Narrated by:
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Saul Reichlin
About this listen
In this collection of short stories, Alexander McCall Smith brings his trademark humour and warmth to inventive tales of spying and vengeance. In one story, a spy dropped deep into enemy territory manages to disguise himself – quite convincingly – as a nun.
In another, an invitation to join the Vatican Secret Service sends a prospective operative down a rabbit hole of controversy and confusion. A third story finds an author, on the brink of public ruin, seeing the error of his ways after an act of kindness saves the day.
A keen observer of humanity imbued with a sparkling imagination, Alexander McCall Smith illustrates throughout that transparency is paramount and forgiveness is restorative. With surprising insight and a healthy helping of humour, these stories remind us that, in the end, the high road is often the better one for all involved.
©2023 Alexander McCall Smith (P)2023 Bolinda PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 797
Robinswood, Co. Waterford, 1939. The once grand house is home to two very different families. Despite delusions of grandeur, Lord and Lady Kenefick and their adult children live a life of decayed opulence as the money needed to keep such a large house and grounds ever dwindles. Meanwhile, the Murphy family, Dermot, Isabella and their three almost grown-up girls, live and work on the estate and do their best to keep everything running smoothly.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I throughly enjoyed every minute of this book
- By paula wright on 09-16-20
By: Jean Grainger
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The Love Note
- By: Tracy Rees
- Narrated by: Jasmine Blackborow
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 160
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 135
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 133
Perfect for fans of The Keeper of Lost Things and The Villa in Italy. Blue lives a charmed life. From her family's townhouse in Richmond, she lives a life of luxury and couldn't want for anything - well, on the surface at least. Then, on the night of her 21st birthday, her father makes a startling toast: he will give his daughter's hand to whichever man can capture her heart best in the form of a love letter. But Blue has other ideas, and, unwilling to play at her father's bewildering games, she sets out on her own path to find her own destiny....
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Love Note❣️
- By Leslie Gail Mnich on 10-25-20
By: Tracy Rees
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The War Nurses: A Moving Wartime Romance Saga Full of Heart
- The War Nurses Series
- By: Lizzie Page
- Narrated by: Marian Hussey
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 76
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Story4 out of 5 stars 71
You will love every moment of this absolutely brilliant wartime saga, perfect for fans of Diney Costeloe, Soraya M. Lane, and Nadine Dorries. As war takes its toll, the love and care of two brave young nurses become everything to the wounded soldiers they tend... 1914. Two plucky young nurses pledge to help the war effort: Mairi, a wholesome idealist hoping to leave behind her past and Elsie, a glamorous single mother with a weakness for handsome soldiers. Despite their differences, the pair become firm friends.
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2 out of 5 stars
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I really really wanted to like this book...
- By Teresa M. Thornborough on 09-26-19
By: Lizzie Page
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The Musgraves
- By: D. E. Stevenson
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 89
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 76
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 76
The tangled destinies of an unusual family are played out against the backdrop of the English countryside where two pretty sisters and a beautiful widow take centre stage in a drama of dangerous flirtation and backstairs gossip. Esther Musgrave, an attractive widow, has her hands full trying to keep her energetic family together – and on speaking terms! Her three daughters, prickly Delia, sensible Meg and carefree Rose, mean everything to her, especially since the death of her husband, Charles.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Sibling rivaly
- By Jerri C on 08-01-11
By: D. E. Stevenson
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The Blue Sapphire
- By: D. E. Stevenson
- Narrated by: Hilary Neville
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 112
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 99
On a beautiful spring day, Julia Harburn sat on a seat in Kensington Gardens enjoying the sunshine. She was wearing a white frock and a large straw hat with a sapphire-blue ribbon which exactly matched her eyes - a strange coincidence, as it turned out, for the blue sapphire was to have a far-reaching influence upon her life. So far, her life had been somewhat dull and circumscribed; but quite suddenly her horizons were enlarged. She began to make new friends.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A meandering journey
- By Anonymous User on 07-10-14
By: D. E. Stevenson
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The Promise
- By: Damon Galgut
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 617
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 535
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Story4 out of 5 stars 530
Haunted by an unmet promise, the Swart family loses touch after the death of their matriarch. Adrift, the lives of the three siblings move separately through the uncharted waters of South Africa; Anton, the golden boy who bitterly resents his life’s unfulfilled potential; Astrid, whose beauty is her power; and the youngest, Amor, whose life is shaped by a nebulous feeling of guilt.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent novel
- By ALG on 11-09-21
By: Damon Galgut
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Tempest-tost
- The Salterton Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Robertson Davies
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 129
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 101
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Story4 out of 5 stars 100
An amateur production of The Tempest provides a colorful backdrop for a hilarious look at unrequited love. Mathematics teacher Hector Mackilwraith, stirred and troubled by Shakespeare's play, falls in love with the beautiful Griselda Webster. When Griselda shows she has plans of her own, Hector despairs on the play's opening night.
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3 out of 5 stars
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First of the first (and shows it)
- By Mary on 12-22-09
By: Robertson Davies
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The Moon, the Stars, and Madame Burova
- A Novel
- By: Ruth Hogan
- Narrated by: Nina Wadia
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 124
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 108
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 108
After inheriting her mother’s fortune-telling business as a young woman, Imelda Burova has spent her life on the Brighton pier practicing her trade. She and her trusty pack of Tarot cards have seen the lovers and the liars, the angels and the devils, the dreamers and the fools. Now, after a lifetime of keeping other people’s secrets, Madam Burova is ready to have a little piece of life for herself. But she still has one last thing to do—to fulfill a promise made in the 1970s, when she and her girlfriends were carefree, with their whole lives still before them.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Trigger warning
- By Kristyn Rose on 01-30-23
By: Ruth Hogan
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Summer
- By: Ali Smith
- Narrated by: Juliette Burton
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 82
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 65
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Story5 out of 5 stars 65
Here is the exciting culmination of Ali Smith's celebrated Seasonal Quartet, a series of stand-alone novels, separate but interconnected (as the seasons are), wide-ranging in timescale and light-footed through histories.
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5 out of 5 stars
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terrific book, beautifully read.
- By Sasha on 02-07-21
By: Ali Smith
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The Royal Correspondent
- A Novel
- By: Alexandra Joel
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 26
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
The author of The Paris Model captures the glamour, style, excitement, and romance of a bygone era in this sumptuous novel - set in the Sydney and London of the 1960s - about an up-and-coming young Australian reporter with a deadly secret.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Story engaging. Narrator not so much.
- By Anne M. Kelley on 09-15-22
By: Alexandra Joel