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  • Everyone Brave Is Forgiven

  • By: Chris Cleave
  • Narrated by: Luke Thompson
  • Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (441 ratings)
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Everyone Brave Is Forgiven

By: Chris Cleave
Narrated by: Luke Thompson
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Editor reviews

"A cracker." ( Stylist, 10 Exciting Books in 2016)
"His best book to date." ( Esquire, 10 best novels of 2016)

Summary

The breathtaking new novel from the multiaward-winning author of The Other Hand.

When war is declared, Mary North leaves finishing school unfinished, goes straight to the War Office, and signs up.

Tom Shaw decides to give it a miss - until his flatmate, Alistair, unexpectedly enlists, and the conflict can no longer be avoided.

Young, bright and brave, Mary is certain she'd be a marvelous spy. When she is - bewilderingly - made a teacher, she instead finds herself defying prejudice to protect the children her country would rather forget.

Tom, meanwhile, finds that he will do anything for Mary. And when Mary and Alistair meet, it is love as well as war that will test them in ways they could not have imagined, entangling three lives in violence and passion, friendship and deception, inexorably shaping their hopes and dreams.

In a powerful combination of both humour and heartbreak, this dazzling novel weaves little-known history and a perfect love story through the vast sweep of the Second World War - daring us to understand that against the great theatre of world events, it is the intimate losses, the small battles, the daily human triumphs that change us most.

©2016 Chris Cleave (P)2016 Hodder & Stoughton

What listeners say about Everyone Brave Is Forgiven

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

An astonishing blend of laughter and pain.

This book took me completely by surprise. I listened to the first few chapters several times and It still made me laugh out loud with delight.
As the war progresses and the confidence and certainty of the main characters begins to disintegrate, the brilliant colours of the opening chapters darken and fade. The humour, which is always present, becomes bleaker and sharper.
I love the fact that Tom's jar of Blackberry jam takes on the significance of preserving colour and ultimately, redemption.
The narration was extraordinary. It was hard to believe there was only one narrator, so skilfully did Luke Thompson inhabit the different characters.
I cannot recommend this audible book enough.

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57 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Eye Opener

I never really appreciated how horrendous WWII was, I studied it at school like most people did but the range of emotions this book brought out it me was huge.

I felt the fear that Alasdair did when in Dunkirk and the trenches and anger at the silly, immature girls wanting to go and view the bombing sites as they thought it was exciting instead of being sorry at the great loss of the residents, and then a part of the evacuation process that I was unaware of, the almost racist aspect to it. Coloured children and the mentally and physically disabled were left behind in the cities when the able bodied kids were evacuated to the country. So many emotions will provoke you here, I really recommend it.

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3 people found this helpful

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

Very offensive regarding black people.

Mary is a spoilt, self-centred, immature little rich girl who appears to live on cigarettes and is addicted to morphine. Her friend Hilda is pathetic and spiteful.
The author appeared to enjoy constantly referring to the black children as niggers, I realise ignorant people did in those days but once would have been sufficient to get the message .

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2 people found this helpful

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

A different view of the second world war

This book looks at the second world war from a different perspective, that of a teacher whose school consists of children that could not be evacuated. It touches on racism in the 1940s, attitudes to disability and the class structure , love and the effect that war has on those who have to fight it. It also points out that not every village wanted evacuee children and shows how they might have been treated, a topic not often brought to light. Easy to listen to but also thought provoking

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2 people found this helpful

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

a dark dark tale of war

there are characters I love, there are characters I dislike especially Mary's mother and her kin. Too dark and sad for me, even Shakespeare in his darkest tales,let's light in often. Towards the end, because of too much horror, I nearly gave up. I need a cheerful walk now and s few jokes

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1 person found this helpful

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

Wow

What a fabulous story and talented story teller. A snapshot of class difference and London at war.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Good story, but missing something


This was a great story set at the outbreak of WW2, with romance, testing of friendships, tragedy and triumphs. However, overall it missed something, that could have made it a great book.

Mr Cleave describes in great detail various really unimportant bits but when the chips were down and something major was happening like war, death and tragedy it was just not given the description and emotion it deserved. I had to rewind a couple of times thinking I had missed something.

An example was the diarrhoea like explosion of adjectives for the opening of the blackberry jam, but the death of one of the main characters was a couple of short sentences, with no real emotion. So that's why I gave it a low overall score.

The narration by Luke Thompson was perfect, his women's voices exceptional which makes me recommend this book despite the problems I have mentioned.

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1 person found this helpful

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

The mood of the time

Gives a real flavour of how people thought and felt before, during and after the war for different experiences.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A story to take you back

really got into the lives of Tom Mary and Alistair. A story of war & love

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A richly audio

At first I was sceptical about a male voice narrative to the female character Mary how wrong was I It was a well written book with good characters The narrative was brilliant I really enjoyed it Brilliant

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