Reviews by Patricia

My expectations from the build-up to the release of this book were not met. Interesting but not gripping. The delivery is very good, though, hence 3 stars.

I'm not sure why, but I've always been curious about this story and I missed the highly recommended 1990s(?) TV adaptation. I was looking for hours and hours of listening, and having exhausted my favourite Victorian classics (for the time being) decided to give this a go. It gets you interested and then it's hard work - and gets you interested again and then is hard work again.; I'm not sure why the narrator is so important to the story to be there in the first place - actually I'm not sure where the story is going. And its easy to drift off mid extra-long sentence and miss something happening. So I've just downloaded the second volume - I'm not sure why. Maybe Simon Vance?

A superb listen - the spirit of the age is once again thrillingly evoked in this superb sequal. The narration is equally to the standard of Wolf Hall and I'm surprised that other listeners don't find it so. "He, Cromwell" is an added flourish and didn't put me off at all. The delivery of the final sentence is a little disappointing - but maybe that's because I didn't want this one to finish. 5 stars well deserved.

The reviewer who likens this to a Coen Brothers movie is spot on. Cringing as the characters lurched from crisis to crisis I then found the ending unexpectedly quite moving. I loved this book and the narration is excellent.

Gripping throughout and, I think, the best plot yet. Although I wasn't prepared for the ending......

I came to this book late - following a quiz I thought I'd already read it but had confused it with a Henry James novel. Don't delay! Beautifully read, as well as written. And tragic - it's too easy today to dismiss the significance of moral standards of past ages. How lucky we are today.

The narrator makes what I suspect is a less than convincing plot on paper into a compelling listen from start to finish. The missing 5th star is perhaps a little mean: "northern vowels" began to pepper Susannah Harker's cut-glass delivery early on, and as they increased (except, oddly, in the F word), I really thought this might be part of the plot. I also dreaded her turning into that irritating narrator of One Day, who I never want to hear again.

I thoroughly enjoyed this listen: great storyline and characters that leapt off the page and a compelling narration. If you want to you can guess the outcome early on, but that won't stop your pleasure. Highly recommended.

Although a Dickens fan, I knew nothing about this story and found it unexpectedly moving as well as exciting. Beautifully read.

Dear Lynn (of Newquay): I think you found this book when The Prime Minister had been removed for correction (3 out of 4 parts were missing). I deliberately didn't listen to this until The Prime Minister had been restored, and it has been well worth the wait. Timothy West's narration is first class once again. I did find the end rather abrupt - but that may be because I coudn't believe the journey had finished - I found it rather moving to have to say goodbye to the Pallisers after all this time.