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Beyond Black

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Beyond Black

By: Hilary Mantel
Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
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About this listen

Alison Hart, a medium by trade, tours the dormitory towns of London's orbital ring road with her flint-hearted sidekick, Colette, passing on messages from beloved dead ancestors. But behind her plump, smiling persona hides a desperate woman: she knows the terrors the next life holds but must conceal them from her wide-eyed clients. At the same time she is plagued by spirits from her own past, who infiltrate her body and home, becoming stronger and nastier the more she resists....

©2005 Hilary Mantel (P)2006 Isis Publishing Ltd Classics Dark Humour Genre Fiction Horror Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Satire Suspense Thriller & Suspense Urban Scary Comedy Fiction Funny Witty Mind-bending Heartfelt
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I just loved this book - it's not what I expected from the description which makes it sounds quite grim! Which is not to say it's not grim - Alison has a pretty awful life and her spirit guide is horrible. It's so well written and performed that I found myself thinking about the story between tube rides. If you enjoy stories with finely drawn characters that build to a revelation - this is one to buy.

Really unusual story, brilliantly written

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The performance of this audiobook is one of the best I’ve heard. Really so well done! It’s brilliant writing as well. Brilliant story, wonderfully drawn characters. Really enjoyed it.

Incredible narrator.

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I’ve never read or listened to anything like it. I’m usually really turned off by fantasy and magic realism, and there were aspects of the book that I found harder to get into for that reason. But that’s just what’s on the surface. The whole experience of the book is more akin to looking at an immersive piece of contemporary art; you can see the themes but they are more than you can comprehend. There is so much in here about trauma, and women’s trauma specifically. And it also manages to be razor sharp funny at the same time. Just incredible. What an amazing person we have lost in Hilary Mantel. And as for Anna Bentinck - a truly amazing performance. Witty and sensitive and really well characterised.

Phenomenal

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there was a time around the last 2 hours, where I wondered if there was a point to the story, and when it would end.

interesting topic, but felt parts of it dragged

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This was recommended to me, so I thought ok. I had tried the Henry books but hadn't liked them. This is entirely different. The characters are clear, the relationships develop, you find you can keep up with so many (mainly through excellent narration) and I certainly ended up wanting to punch one of them.

A weak ending, but I had wondered what she'd do.

A real surprise

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