Francesca cover art

Francesca

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Francesca

By: Gillian Godden
Narrated by: Fiona Hasen-Bowes
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About this listen

Single mother Francesca is struggling to get by when an act of desperation leads to her owing a debt to notorious gangland boss Tony Lambrianu.

Tony has his own troubles - a change of image from playboy to respectable married man is needed to further his criminal career. He has women falling at his feet but none he wants to make his wife.

As Francesca is drawn deeper into the dark underworld dealings of Tony and his associates, she has to make alliances of her own to survive. And she’ll do whatever it takes to protect her small son.

This is a roller-coaster ride of high stakes, dirty tricks, loyalty and love. Strap in - it’s a hell of a trip!

©2019 Gillian Godden (P)2020 W. F. Howes Ltd Crime Crime Fiction Genre Fiction Urban Fiction Mystery

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All stars
Most relevant
I enjoyed this book but the narrator nearly made me give up. she has no idea of the right tone, the right pitch,

Good story line

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I stuck with this though I was tempted to shout at the irritating characters and their dillydallying about and mega self absorption . I also was tempted to shout at the narration a few times- horrid cockney accent and then the narration fell into happy clappy tweeness .
It filled a gap for me as sort of a bland background ramble as I grappled with my cross stitch!!

Frustrating characters

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The story was OK, but the female character was portrayed as the classic pathetic female, whilst good old Tony was the hero. Threats to kill and violence were laughed off as nothing - he's just a loveable rougue with an "Italian temper". I felt like it painted women in a really bad light and really minimised the issue of violence against women. That said, it trivialised (sexual) violence in general when her assault was also laughed off and joked about. I understand that this was set a while ago when maybe this sort of thing was more acceptable and women were doormats, but I still felt that it needed much more care in it's portrayal of domestic violence and blame. I was shocked to see the author was female, tbh.

Nauseating portrayal of women

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when I find a book I like I tend to read them all consecutively, sadly I don't think the writer remembers book two as well as me because alot of details don't match up...Tony calls jake his brother but now he's his friend and how Tony met fran was wrong.
The narrator just does sound right for this book either, I can't even listen anymore her voice just drones on its distracting.

2 hrs in & very confused!!!

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Started slow, didn’t think I would get to chapter 3. I’m so pleased I stayed with it as the book was full of exciting small plots. Not madly keen on the reader, took a while, her voice was not right for Francesca.

Another Example of Excellence

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