Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • In Pale Battalions

  • By: Robert Goddard
  • Narrated by: Jilly Bond
  • Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (323 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
In Pale Battalions cover art

In Pale Battalions

By: Robert Goddard
Narrated by: Jilly Bond
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £15.99

Buy Now for £15.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Sea Change cover art
Set in Stone cover art
Caught in the Light cover art
Closed Circle cover art
Past Caring cover art
Painting the Darkness cover art
Into the Blue cover art
The Fine Art of Invisible Detection cover art
One False Move cover art
Dirty cover art
When We Were Orphans cover art
A Test of Wills cover art
River of Darkness cover art
A Bitter Truth cover art

Summary

Six months after the sudden death of her husband, Leonora Galloway sets out on a trip to France with her daughter Penelope. At last the time has come when secrets can be shared and explanations begin....

Leonora takes her daughter to the battlefields of WW1, where her father is commemorated on the Thiepval Monument. But the date of his death is surprising and reveals that Captain John Hallows cannot possibly have been Leonora's real father.

This is only the start of a series of revelations that span three generations of a distinguished aristocratic family who are not what they seem. Penelope must piece together a tale of war, of loss, of greed, deception and vice - and the perpetrator of a murder left unsolved for more than half a century....

©1988 Robert Goddard (P)2017 Audible, Ltd

What listeners say about In Pale Battalions

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    209
  • 4 Stars
    88
  • 3 Stars
    19
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    187
  • 4 Stars
    78
  • 3 Stars
    25
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    6
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    202
  • 4 Stars
    77
  • 3 Stars
    17
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb...

I read this book many years ago and recall my younger self being moved by the content and awed by the writer’s skill. I think I now own every book Robert Goddard has written. This audio production is superb and brought the story to life through the stunning narration. If only I could have given ten stars for the performance...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

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

Twisty

The usual Goddard fare. Twisty as a sack of snakes, elegantly English and wonderfully well written.
Always a joy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

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

Superb

By far Mr Goddard's best book!
Perfectly structured, full of surprises and very moving. Brilliant.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

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

Waffly, extra-convoluted story

Disappointingly inflated length, although core plot is good. The long-windedness dilutes any impact the story may, otherwise have had.
Diabolical character accents and voices. The narration will cause you to wince time and again

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

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

Excellent

My first experience of a Robert Goddard book on audible, I have thoroughly enjoyed the story and found the narration excellent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

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

Good story

This is a very good story but the narration is very annoying with over emphasised voices

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

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

There should be a higher rating for such excellent stories

I wish I could award a higher than 5 star rating. I could become lost in Robert Goddard’s genius for story telling, all day long.
This one was no disappointment- enchanting, enthralling and gave me such pleasure to loose myself in his narrative.
So many books sound outdated without all the modern conveniences we take for granted now- but I never noticed the lack of them at all thank you Mr Goddard .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

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

wonderful!!! great!!!

not to be missed one of the best of goddards sorry to finish this book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

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

Sub standard and terrible narration

This is the 7th Goddard book I listen. If it were the first I would not have bothered with more. The story was repetitive and unsatisfactory. The narrator was extremely woeful making characters speak like they were actors in a pantomime. There are much better Goddard books than this one

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

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

Quite compelling

I normally read crime and police and criminal stuff, and the like, so this could not have been more different.
It is very much in the vein of Julian Fellowes and Belgravia, another book I throughly enjoyed.
This is basically the story of a woman who's life was blighted by her illigitamacy and was punished for her fathers apparant desertion and her mothers perceived behaviour. She is tracing the truth of their and her past, with her now grown up daughter by her side.
The truth at the time was shameful and the cruelty of her "step grandmother is absolutely deplorable.
It is very well written and you can watch as she traces it all back and finally reaches the truth. It has avein of Sidney Carton from Charles Dickens' Tale of two cities.
It wasn't a thriller, just a tale being tols and the truth of the effects that war had on soldiers and the unappreciated post tarumatic stress that war caused and wasn't understood or allowed in those days,
I just enjoyed it.
Give it a go..

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful