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The Black Moth

Gossip, scandal and an unforgettable Regency romance

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The Black Moth

By: Georgette Heyer
Narrated by: Stewart Clarke
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Brought to you by Penguin.

GEORGETTE HEYER'S REMARKABLE FIRST NOVEL

Diana Beauleigh is caught between two men.

Seven long years ago, Jack Carstares, the Earl of Wyncham, sacrificed his honour for his brother and has been in exile ever since.

Returning to England, Jack pretends to be a gentleman named Sir Anthony Ferndale but makes his living in a most ungentlemanly fashion, as a highwayman and a gambler.

When Jack encounters his nemesis, the Duke of Andover, in the midst of kidnapping Diana Beauleigh, the two old enemies come to blows.

Can Jack save the beautiful Diana from rakes, kidnap and ruin...?


'One of my perennial comfort authors. Heyer's books are as incisively witty and quietly subversive as any of Jane Austen's' Joanne Harris

'Absolutely delicious tales of Regency heroes . . . Utter, immersive escapism' SOPHIE KINSELLA

'Georgette Heyer is second to none' Sunday Times

'Fabulously witty' Stephen Fry

© Georgette Heyer 1921 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Classics Historical Historical Fiction Romance
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Critic reviews

My favourite historical novelist - stylish, romantic, sharp, and witty. Her sense of period is superb, her heroines are enterprising, and her heroes dashing. I owe her many happy hours (Margaret Drabble)
Wonderful characters, elegant, witty writing, perfect period detail, and rapturously romantic. Georgette Heyer achieves what the rest of us only aspire to (Katie Fforde)
A writer of great wit and style ... I've read her books to ragged shreds (Kate Fenton)
Sparkling
All stars
Most relevant
Brilliant narration. Did lose my place with plot a few times as there are a lot of characters and sub plots but was made easier by narrator's excellent characterisations making it easier to discern them.

Great narration

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Laughable pronunciation of the main character's ENGLISH name spoilt this narration of a well liked book. Where was the editor?

Pronunciation!

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Nothing to dislike a wonderful first novel with humour and finesse all her books are so much fun

Amazing

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This is a book I know and love. It's not one of the authors best, but if the story has been read by an appropriate narrator it would nevertheless really shine. The narrator in this case has a good voice that I enjoy listening to, but his pronunciation of the lead character's name was frankly ridiculous, and he made other pronunciation errors too. And I don't think he has a sense of the humour in Heyer's books. A good narrator is vital for enjoyment of an audiobook, and increasingly audiobooks are being read by inappropriately chosen people, and sometimes woefully unskilled people. I've had to return this book I'm afraid.

Glaring pronunciation errors!

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I looked forward in anticipation to a new audio version of this novel - a novel I know well. An earlier version was very good apart from an intensely irritating voice given to one character and I was hoping that the new recording would be an improvement. Alas, the same character is presented in an equally irritating way in this new version and, in addition, some other characters grate when occasionally they speak with an elongated vowel sound.
This is very picky of me, there is much to enjoy in this version and the story races along with many of the usual ingredients of a Heyer novel. Discovering her novels as a young teenager back in the 1960s was a delight; listening to them again (and again!) as I approach my dotage is equally delightful.

Great story but the narration is flawed in places . . .

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