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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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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
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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I chose this as I LOVED The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger . The narrator’s voice is lovely I thought I’d just drift off. However I was gripped. I’ve lived in flats in London and Visited Highgate Cemetery so that really made me want to find out more about the lives of these people. The end? Not quite resolved I thought. That’s why I’ve given it 4 not 5 stars. Interested to know what others think.

Downloaded as bed time story, forgot to fall asleep!

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Where does Her Fearful Symmetry rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Pretty high up, not my fav but reread worthy.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Martin's accidents and Elspeth manipulating dust stick to mind. Lacking substantial character development thought overal.

Which character – as performed by Sian Thomas – was your favourite?

Martin, perhaps because he was the most relatable.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes and I did.

A Light Spooky Tale

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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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