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Her Fearful Symmetry

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Her Fearful Symmetry

By: Audrey Niffenegger
Narrated by: Sian Thomas
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Summary

When Elspeth Noblin dies she leaves her beautiful flat overlooking Highgate Cemetery to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina Poole, on the condition that their mother is never allowed to cross the threshold. But until the solicitor's letter falls through the door of their suburban American home, either Julia nor Valentina knew their aunt existed. The twins hope that in London their own, separate, lives can finally begin but they have no idea that they've been summoned into a tangle of fraying lives, from the obsessive-compulsive crossword setter who lives above them to their aunt's mysterious and elusive lover who lives below them and works in the cemetery itself.

As the twins unravel the secrets of their aunt, who doesn't seem quite ready to leave her flat, even after death, Niffenegger weaves together a delicious and deadly ghost story about love, loss and identity.

 Family Life Genre Fiction Ghosts Horror Women's Fiction Haunted Scary Fiction Thought-Provoking Time Travel
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Critic reviews

Dark and delicious (Tom Adair)
What is really satisfying about this novel, like The Time Traveler's Wife, is its depiction of relationships: the process of grief, the transforming power of love
An original, outrageous, and thoroughly enjoyable ghost story
There may be ghosts, but it's the human stories that glitter
A rich, involving novel
A ghostly love story and a lovely ghost story
The novel's representation of London rings completely true... The universe of Her Fearful Symmetry is solid and familiar... (John O'Connell)
It's been worth the wait... Niffenegger's books are fabulously left field, striking an unlikely balance between romance and fantasy. A brilliantly beautiful book
Chillingly good (Eithne Farry)
A one-off pleasure (Fanny Blake)
All stars
Most relevant
I loved the quirkyness of the Time Traveller's Wife - and this is similarly bizarre as the story unfolds. It is beautifully read, with really distinctive voices and accents but it is trying to second guess the story that makes it so appealing - and the added layer of darkness and menace really gives the story an edge. Very easy listening - my only criticism was it was relatively short

Wonderful

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Definitely a quirky and unique story - not your run of the mill ghost story. It is beautifully read and an easy listen.

However, having read this story when it came out, maybe I had too high expectations. Sadly, the abridged version misses too much out and the story jumps around too quickly without fully explaining and exploring situations and relationships between characters. I am surprised that the author sanctioned it.

Having both read and listened to this book, I won’t ever download an abridged version again.

Considering this book? Read it instead - makes much more sense.

This is a shame as I could have listened to the performance of the reader for another 6 hours! She slipped effortlessly into all the different accents - I will definitely look out for books she has performed.

Abridged and you can tell

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Having read this book shortly after it was published, it stayed with me as one of the most thought provoking reads of my life. Examining aspects of the afterlife, the super powers of twins and the natural moral balance of the universe... I instantly regretted passing it on to a friend years ago.
I hesitated to purchase this audio edition as it is 'abridged', but I can honestly say that the story is just as rich, multi-faceted and hypnotic as I'd remembered. I have been plugged into my speaker-band for 2 days and nights solid, unable to stop listening until it was finished!

A Modern Gothic Masterpiece

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Excellent audiobook that could have only been improved if it had been unabridged. There were points that I certainly felt were lacking some detail. Narration was outstanding though.

Excellent, but a shame it wasn't unabridged.

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The story is like a movie paraphrased. It is more like describing a series of events. There is very little other things that I like in books such as an insight in how the characters feel or think or some ideas that make me think about my own life, about awesome things about human behaviour or about philosophical questions, etc. The actions are entertaining as there are some unexpected turns and there is a ghost who does some cool things. However if you want more in a book than just a series of events, this book is not really for you.

Entertaining events, unexpected turns. Very little more than that.

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