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Red Joan

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Red Joan

By: Jennie Rooney
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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About this listen

Joan’s voice is almost a whisper. ‘Nobody talked about what they did during the war. We all knew we weren’t allowed to.’ Joan Stanley has a secret. She is a loving mother, a doting grandmother, and leads a quiet, unremarkable life in the suburbs. Then one morning there is a knock on the door, and suddenly the past she has been so keen to hide for the last fifty years threatens to overturn her comfortable world.

Cambridge University in 1937 is awash with ideas and idealists, yet unworldly Joan feels better suited to a science lecture and a cup of cocoa. But a chance meeting with the glamorous Russian-born Sonya and her charismatic cousin Leo blurs the edges of the things Joan thought she knew about the world, and about herself. In the post-War world of smoke and mirrors, allegiance is a slippery thing. Working in a government ministry with access to top-secret information, Joan is suddenly faced with the most difficult question of all: what price would you pay to remain true to what you believe? Would you betray your country, your family, even the man you love?

©2013 Jennie Rooney (P)2013 Random House Audiobooks Contemporary Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction War

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All stars
Most relevant
I loved this book..the story, the reading and the moral ambiguities. The story is gripping from begining to end but all the time it is making you think, what is right and what is wrong. The characters are sympathetic and beautifully created while Juliet Stevenson brings them to life superbly. Brilliant!

a gripping book

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What made the experience of listening to Red Joan the most enjoyable?

The lustrous narrative of Juliet Stevenson.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

A Secret Long Held

Any additional comments?

The historical context of the story was interesting and seemed accurate.

Very Good story read excellently

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Kept me engaged all the way through. Another triumph for the narrator. Highly recommended.
r

Engaging throughout

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Loved this book. The narrator is brilliant but then again if Juliet read a telephone directory it would fab. Great story, I was sorry to finish it. if you read one audible book this year, let it be this one.

Wonderful Book

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A great story, wonderful characters and brilliantly written. This is how to write a dual timeline novel. Terrific narration, as you’d expect from Juliet Stevenson. Thoroughly recommend.

Excellent

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