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The Thief of Time

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Matthieu Zela has lived his life well. In fact, he's lived several lives well. Because Matthew Zela's life is characterised by one amazing fact: his body stopped ageing before the end of the 18th century.

Starting in 1758, a young Matthieu flees Paris after witnessing his mother's brutal murder. His only companions are his younger brother, Tomas, and one true love, Dominique Sauvet. The story of his life takes us from the French Revolution to 1920s Hollywood, from the Great Exhibition to the Wall Street Crash - and by the end of the 20th century, Matthieu has been an engineer, a rogue, a movie mogul, a soldier, a financier, a lover to many, a cable TV executive and much more besides.

Brilliantly weaving history and personal experience, this is a dazzling story of love, murder, missed chances, treachery - and redemption.

©2011 John Boyne (P)2020 Penguin Audio Crime Fiction Fantasy Fiction Historical Fiction Emotionally Gripping French Revolution
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Another Great storytelling by Boyle, but the narrating could be better. The dialogues were well performed, but the narrating parts were read in rather monotous tone. Still well worth a listen.

Great Story

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I enjoyed this book very much. John Boyne draws you in to the characters. A great story over centuries giving a history lesson in its wake. Brilliantly narrated

Unusual read with surprising events.

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Fabulously engaging and clever tale that slowly becomes clearer as you progress. The breadth and scope of history covered is breathtaking.
The reading is good, though the narrator didn’t gel with me at first I came to enjoy his pace and tone, and characterisation.
In places the production values are amateur, where a break has not been well spliced, or a cut not sufficiently paused.
Other than those niggles, superb.

Another wide ranging epic

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I’ve no idea if this historical fiction as billed or sci do/fantasy but I don’t suppose it matters in the least. The un-aging immortality of Matthieu sounds ideal and in many ways is but what impact does it have on those around him. Witty, clever and thoroughly enjoyable. I’m off to see why an 18th century character calls Matthieu Grasshopper though!

Excellent

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Enjoyed Last few chapters most. Could not get invested in characters beyond Matthieu & Dominique & frequently lost interest in the more peripheral characters during different eras

The Ending

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