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  • A Laodicean

  • A Story of Today
  • By: Thomas Hardy
  • Narrated by: Clive Chafer
  • Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
  • 3.7 out of 5 stars (28 ratings)
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A Laodicean cover art

A Laodicean

By: Thomas Hardy
Narrated by: Clive Chafer
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Summary

Paula Power, the daughter of a wealthy railway magnate, inherits De Stancy Castle, an ancient castle in need of modernization. She commissions a young architect from London, George Somerset, to undertake the work. Somerset falls in love with Paula. But Paula, the Laodicean of the title, meaning a person who is lukewarm or halfhearted, is torn between George's admiration and that of Captain De Stancy, whose old-world romanticism contrasts with Somerset's forward-looking outlook.

Paula's vacillation in her romantic life is also reflected in her views about religion, politics, and social progress, a dilemma faced by people in the Victorian era as industrialization was beginning to greatly change their lives. Paula will have to decide between the two men, however, or risk losing them both.

Public Domain (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about A Laodicean

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story

Loved the book. The narration was not the best and took some time to acclimatise to his reading. Some very annoying editing in the audio in that quite a few sentences were repeated particularly towards the end of the book. Despite the issues loved the storyline and couldn’t put it down willing the ending to be satisfying, which it was.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Very slow paced even for Hardy

I'm a big Hardy fan and I've read pretty much everything he has written. This story is a pleasing one and contradicts a lot of the pessimism attributed to Hardy. I do think however that it was too long and at least 1/3 of it could have been cut away,leaving a better read.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Hardy on architecture

Unusual story written midway in Hardy’s life. Great focus on his original profession of architecture. Less fond of performance as enunciation was somewhat poor.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Narration left me unengaged

Struggled with this book. Not sure whether it was the story but the narrator just didn't captivate me.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Story. Awful narration

As above. The narrator nearly ruined this for me with his robotic reading. I enjoyed the story though.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Hard-going Hardy tale

I gave up on this half-way through. It didn't feel like a Hardy novel and the narrator's voice was quite robotic at times.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Terrible, droning, monotonous narration

Had to switch him off as soon as possible. Really really really really really bad. Avoid! Clive Chafer needs ti become a news reader. There’s more animation in a weather report - or the shipping forecast.

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