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The Tuscan Child
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble, Katy Sobey
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
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Summary
From New York Times best-selling author Rhys Bowen comes a haunting novel about a woman who braves her father's hidden past to discover his secrets....
In 1944, British bomber pilot Hugo Langley parachuted from his stricken plane into the verdant fields of German-occupied Tuscany. Badly wounded, he found refuge in a ruined monastery and in the arms of Sofia Bartoli. But the love that kindled between them was shaken by an irreversible betrayal.
Nearly 30 years later, Hugo's estranged daughter, Joanna, has returned home to the English countryside to arrange her father's funeral. Among his personal effects is an unopened letter addressed to Sofia. In it is a startling revelation.
Still dealing with the emotional wounds of her own personal trauma, Joanna embarks on a healing journey to Tuscany to understand her father's history - and maybe come to understand herself as well. Joanna soon discovers that some would prefer the past be left undisturbed, but she has come too far to let go of her father's secrets now....
Cover design by Shasti O'Leary Soudant
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What listeners say about The Tuscan Child
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- BarbaraM
- 31-07-18
Very enjoyable
I enjoyed the mystery, the clues and the eventual revelations. Rhys Bowen has a smooth writing style that is tinged with optimism.
The background, the setting of a WW2 and a modern Italy in rural Tuscany, is interesting, especially if you have a little WW2 Italian campaign knowledge. A very intense and brutal war largely overlooked by Hollywood.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Emilie
- 26-06-19
Soap opera verging on high school essay
Literary equivalent of paint by number. Stilted dialogue and predictable plotting. Narrator is okay but a rote performance with rote material
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4 people found this helpful
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- MR.K.GILL
- 06-01-19
Really Enjoyed
An audiobook that you want to listen to right to the finish
the only thing that was maybe overdone was the Italian food recipes and constant references to how they were eating
which I think took up chapters in the book
that wasn't required
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4 people found this helpful
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- Miss A.
- 08-11-20
Enjoyable
A well read, charming story, easy happy listening. with enough mystery to keep you engaged.
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3 people found this helpful
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- M. J. Packer
- 10-04-22
Unsympathetic
I think I may have enjoyed reading this book. Although Hugo’s narrative could have equally worked if it had preceded that of his daughter Joanna’s, the intertwining of his wartime escapade and her desire to discover his story after his death might have worked as a literary device on the page.
But in narration the story of an injured English officer hiding in the Tuscan hills, aided by the potentially widowed young Italian, was robbed of any sense of passion. The expressionless, cold voice(think a 1950s war film portrayal of a boorish upper class officer) made the growing romance feel flat, somewhat unlikely and essentially unbelievable.
It was rendered more so as it was interrupted by the story of Joanna, his orphaned daughter. An intelligent, aspiring lawyer in the post swinging 60s,sexual revolutionary 1970s, the intrigue surrounding her backstory also fell flat due to the insipid recounting. The narrator’s voice also sowed seeds of doubt, rising as it did with a pseudo-Australian questioning tone at the end of each sentence.
These narrators voices may just have worked, should the father and daughter stories have run consecutively. But as the story switched back and forth, they jarred against each other, leaving me bereft of any sympathy for the injured pilot who lost his wives and lover, as much as for his lost and lonely daughter.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jacqui
- 24-11-21
Very enjoyable but a little predictable
Love her books and took this because the fabulous Jonathan Keeble was part narrator. As always he delivered.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ruth
- 08-06-20
brilliant
this book covers it all, bit of history, bit of crime, bit of romance set in a beautifully described Italian world. perfect escapism that kept me entertained right to the end!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Southern Reader
- 11-11-19
Feel good ending
Enjoyed this story, being able to switch between reading and listening whilst walking was fantastic.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Penny Scott
- 11-01-23
Captivating
I loved this audible book it took me back in time when my father was in the war and what happened to so many, many families, in different countries, who were under Hitlers rule.
I realise it was a work of fiction but it made me realise just how delicate we all are under a dictatorship.
Well written and the narrator excellent
I’d like to read a second book to follow how these young folk looked after the villagers .
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- Mrs. C. Hunt
- 19-12-22
The Tuscan Child
This murder mystery flies back between a father's memory and a daughter's real time, although they seem to the in well and you don't get confused. It is lovely the way the to love stories between her father and his mother are taken up again by their children. Read brilliantly by Mary Sobey and Jonathan Keeble.
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