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  • Scandalous Risks

  • By: Susan Howatch
  • Narrated by: Sian Thomas
  • Length: 15 hrs and 48 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (38 ratings)
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Scandalous Risks

By: Susan Howatch
Narrated by: Sian Thomas
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Summary

In 1963, when traditional values are under attack, Venetia, a young woman, becomes involved with the Dean of Starbridge Cathedral. But as a married man, he has nothing to offer her, and Venetia finds herself trapped in a web of love and lies.
©1990 Leaftree Ltd (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Scandalous Risks

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Starbridge series

I have read all of the Starbridge series of books and was delighted when I realized that they were available in audio. The first one I bought was my favourite in the book series - Glamorous Powers. This was a sad disappointment because the main character, Father Jonathon Darrow,who features in the whole series and whom I invariably found to be fascinating and attractive in the books, came over as a mysogynistic old bore on audio. This was interesting since the reader was reading exactly what Susan Howatch had written, but presumably his view of Darrow differed from my own, and it all came down to voice and inflection. With Scandalous Risks I found the main character in the book version, Venetia Flaxman, vapid and irritating while the behaviour of Neville Aysgarth, the Dean, (who also features in all the books) seemed extremely improbable. However, the audio version came over as quite the opposite. It was brillliantly and sympathetically read and one could easily identify with Venetia as the story unfolded. To me these books are a fascinating example of how audio and the characterisations of the characters by the reader can make or break a book utterly. I hope all the Starbridge books become available in Audio one of these days and also - forlorn hope - that they will re-record Glamorous Powers with someone else doing the narration!

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6 people found this helpful

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

A Starbridge sensation

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I first read Susan Howatch's series of novels about the Church of England back in the 1980s and was curious to see if they had stood the test of time. Listening to this one, beautifully interpreted in the voice of Sian Thomas, I was not disappointed. Starbridge and its Cathedral Close is the setting for a surprising tale of illicit clerical love in the swinging sixties. "Honest to God" has just been published and is rocking the church just as "Lady Chatterley's Lover" is shocking the country. So evocative of the "swinging sixties", this book is not only a very entertaining read but also a valid and serious look at social history.
I was sorry when it ended but happy that Venetia and her talisman reappear as the series progresses. Highly recommended for any who remember those times (and any who would like to have lived through them!).

What other book might you compare Scandalous Risks to, and why?

A bit of a twentieth century "Barchester" Chronicle (Anthony Trollope) - it is a tale of cathedral politics and clerical families with a twist of scandal.

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

Venetia

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

Yes

Any additional comments?

Hoping Audible is going to publish the entire sequence!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Highly recommend

Having read this book as part of the series when it was first published, this was a lovely trip down memory lane. The quality of the narration is outstanding and makes all the difference. I found myself staying in bed for another hour just to carry on listening. This was my first book from Audible and if the standard is this high I will definitely be back for more.

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2 people found this helpful

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

Where are the other books?!?

Such an excellent series, but it’s SO annoying that Audible haven’t commissioned the whole series. All the books run concurrently even though they are individual stories. It’s very annoying trying to ‘fill in the gaps’

Love this series, still relevant more than 30 years after publication .

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1 person found this helpful

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

Brilliant and unputdownable

As usual, Susan Howatch has you spellbound from start to finish. Her use of language is superb and her sense of tension and thrill makes you want to just keep listening. It’s a pity that not all the books in the series are available, but well worth listening to in its own right. Really well read, each character is defined and all seem so real, so human and so flawed. Excellent indeed.

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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

Excellent.

A wonderful and absorbing book brought beautifully to life by sensitive and professional narration.

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

Chilling psychological destruction of innocence.

If you could sum up Scandalous Risks in three words, what would they be?
Venetia, the "bit of fluff" of her father, neglected by her mother and humiliated by her siblings, has keen intelligence and an interest in theology, but a passion for love. To love and be loved, and to be married is her goal. However, she is em-meshed into the dangerous charlatans of the C of E, and ends up being fooled, manipulated, exploited and destroyed, all without her knowledge. The listener, however, is clear about what is going on and this is down to the excellent performance of the narrator. It reminds me of a destructive family of ex missionaries based at frinton in Essex, who destroyed every innocent beautiful vulnerable young person that they could by their blather about the bible back in the eighties. Horrifically their son now works for an anti bullying charity and like Aysgarth, presumably, carries on the family tradition of spiritual abuse.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Scandalous Risks?
The really sneaky way that Eddie Hoffenburg persues Venetia.......like a reptile waiting for the mouse to look the other way before he pounces.
I was also moved by the end result of the "coterie".. The list of people and how they died or lived strange lives,. right at the end of the book. And how the two main Narcissistic types, Marina and Michael, survived. Also very interesting is the character of Charlie the prig.

Have you listened to any of Sian Thomas’s other performances? How does this one compare?
Fantastic performance. I do think she's one of the best readers that I've heard. Will look out for her in future.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
Was love really all you needed?

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