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The Amber Keeper cover art

The Amber Keeper

By: Freda Lightfoot
Narrated by: Susan Duerden
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Summary

After her mother's suicide, Abbie Myers returns home to the Lake District with her young child - and no wedding ring. Estranged from her turbulent family for many years, Abbie is heartbroken when she hears that they blame her for this tragedy.

Determined to uncover her mother's past, Abbie approaches her beloved grandmother, Millie, in search of answers. The old woman reveals the story of how she travelled to Russia in 1911 as a young governess and became caught up in the revolution.

As Abbie struggles to reconcile with her family, and to support herself and her child, she realizes that those long-ago events created aftershocks that threaten to upset the fragile peace she longs to create.

Set against the backdrops of the English Lake District in the 1960s and the upheavals of revolutionary Russia, The Amber Keeper is a sweeping tale of jealousy and revenge, reconciliation and forgiveness.

©2014 Freda Lightfoot (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

What listeners say about The Amber Keeper

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

Oh Dear, my mistake

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Firstly I hadn't realised that I was buying an audio book - I wouldn't have done so normally. Secondly, I did start listening but the awful mannered voice put me off so much I gave up after a few sentences. Pity, I suspect it's a good read, but not in this case a good listen. All very subjective of course, I'm sure lots of people will really enjoy listening.

Would you ever listen to anything by Freda Lightfoot again?

Yes possibly

Would you be willing to try another one of Susan Duerden’s performances?

No

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Amber Keeper?

Not applicable as I didn't listen to most of it.

Any additional comments?

My mistake - didn't realise what I was ordering. I wouldn't normally order an audio book unless I was quite sure I liked the reader - so wouldn't buy one by an unknown.

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7 people found this helpful

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

Not recommended

The idea for the story is promising. With proper research and the creation of engaging, convincing characters this book could have become an interesting and informative story about "Upstairs, Downstairs" in Russia at the onset of the October Revolution. Pity the execution is so poor, this book is not even entertaining.

Worse still, Susan Duerden's reading is terrible. Every sentence has the same intonation and contributes to a merciless singsong which ruins even those parts of the story that arouse a little interest. Miss Duerden's attempts at creating different voices are confined to her lowering her voice and sounding breathy. It is all so bad, in the end I just laughed and turned off. I would recommend that Miss Duerden listen to a performance by Rupert Degas who should give masterclasses teaching how to read a story and create a stunning variety of voices.

I shall return this book.

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4 people found this helpful

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

Ok story, shame about the narration!!!

Story was lovely but it was ruined by the intonation of the narrator. I nearly gave up listening but I had paid for it so wanted my money's worth.

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4 people found this helpful

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

Droning voice

Story was OK but nearly gave up listening due to the terrible narration. It sounded as though she was reciting a shopping list most of the time.

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2 people found this helpful

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

Terrible narration

I’m afraid, I’ve had to stop listening to this book. The narration is appalling. The monotonous breathy voice is almost comical. The narrator sounds like she normally does voiceovers for advertising. I sincerely hope this lady is not pursuing an acting career. and suggest she gives up narration. Baffled how she ever passed the audition.
Audible should be refunding all customers a credit, as this is amply the worst narration I have ever heard.

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

review of the Amber keeper

story amazing reader got very annoying characters had same voices little change of tone voice

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

Great story awful narration

Such a shame. The story is great but the other reviews are correct, sorry to the reader but your accents are not the best and you have the same intonation in every sentence which is really annoying. I’m struggling on but not sure I’ll make the end purely because of the reading

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

Dreadful narration

I have tried to listen to this on many occasions and the narration has put me off. I shouldn't have persevered as it is now too late to return the book. The narrator speaks in almost the same voice for all characters - monotonous, breathless with the last word of the majority of sentences being elongated and breathy. Extremely annoying. I have reached chapter 3 having never reached this far before, and just cannot go on. I'm having to bin it and consider buying it on Kindle instead. I have noted the name of the narrator and will ensure I never buy any of her books. The storyline? No idea, I can't concentrate. This book needs to be narrated with another narrator and re-issued free of charge to all purchasers.

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

Brilliantly Engrossing

loved this story a tale of two generations of women . The setting during the Russian revolution was very factually accurate.

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

Great story

Loved the story but unfortunately was not keen on the narrator, quite a few mispronunciations - I do not normally complain but it was annoying.

Would listen to more of the Authors books.

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