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Hardacre

Hardacre Family Saga Series, Book 1

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Hardacre

By: CL Skelton
Narrated by: Justine Eyre
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About this listen

Hardacre is the sweeping rags to riches story of the Hardacre family. This dramatic family saga follows generations of the Hardacres from Victorian times to the 1950s. Set against the backdrop of major historical events, Hardacre traces the family's humble beginnings to their position of great wealth.

Sam Hardacre makes a tough yet honest living as a fish gutter. But he has ambitions for a life far removed from the harsh existence on the quays of the north English coast. Through drive and determination he builds a business empire and amasses a fortune. His wife, Mary, once a poor street urchin, must learn to adapt to her new role as mistress of a grand house in Yorkshire.

Sam's sons, Joe and Harry, inherit some but not all of their father's qualities. Their opposing personalities lead them to make very different choices about their futures. Meanwhile, their younger sister, Jane, is born into a life of privilege and has no experience of her family's early struggles.

The three siblings and their offspring will know love, hate, passion and tragedy, as they live through the dramatic events of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The lives of the Hardacres are shaped by the extraordinary events of the Boer War, the Great War, the Wall Street Crash, the Second World War, Hitler's Germany, and the London Blitz.

©2014 The Estate of CL Skelton (P)2018 Tantor Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction England War
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Good book, dreadful narration with many mispronunciations.
I’m afraid I skipped to the last chapter

Hardacre

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The sheer awfulness of the narrator’s voice and endless mispronunciation of words repeatedly. Most of the characters are meant to have Yorkshire accents. Whatever the accent the narrator uses it is not an accent anyone else uses. And then there were all the words the narrator presumably had never come across before. It became a game spotting them. In one place even the narrator‘a note to editor on what word she should use had been left in. In other places she changes the gender of characters. Still a good rags to riches story but the narration really gets in the way of the story. I got the book for free, if I had paid for it I would be most unhappy.

Ok book spoilt by bad editing and awful narration.

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loved this detail of this story of a rags to riches family. great depth and storyline. but the read was terribly. The awful attempt at Yorkshire and scotch accents would have ruined it for me had the story not been so good. There is also a note to the editor from the reader in the middle of it. such poor editing also
I would be furious if I had written this story.

great storey abysmal reading

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The dreadful narration ruined a good story. I stayed with it to the end, but I would not listen to another book narrated by this person. Quite apart from the ridiculously inaccurate Yorkshire accent, there were mispronunciations all through.

Excruciating narration

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I love this book. I want everyone to enjoy it as much as I did! Please 'read' it though... I really don't like to criticise, but there are 2 issues with this narration:

1) Canadian actor narrating with an English accent. For a long time I couldn't understand what was wrong with her 'posh' English accent and then it hit me... English accent with 'Americanised' pronounciation of words. So, for example, the car brand "Jaguar" is pronounced "Jag Waaarrrr" and South African names like "Cronje" pronounced "Cron Jeee" and certain British place names murdered. Once I understood that it didn't bother me so much - you can't know what you don't know :-) However, just read it in your native Canadian accent, Justine, you have a lovely voice and the story would flow better. Or, just let a Brit do it.

2) Actor can't do any other 'non posh' accent except a generic 'Irish brogue' - this is ironic as the company, who produced the more recent 'All Creatures Great and Small' series are going to start filming Hardacre as a TV series... in Ireland ;-) But it did, sadly, spoil large chunks of dialogue... a strong quay-side Bridlington accent is a generic 'to be sure, to be sure' type of accent. Men sound like Teresa May, in that way that a young boy might sound, when their voice is about to break... it's very off-putting.

That all said, fortunately, the story is good enough to enjoy it. I still got a lot out of the story and also the second book, "Hardacres Luck", which I didn't know existed until Audible suggested it. The second book is very different, but I would say it will be worth a visit for those who were invested in the characters from "Hardacre".

To the critics who were a bit down on the book in their reviews I would say that you have to understand CL Skelton's style. He wrote screenplays and was encouraged by a friend to write a novel and that style is apparent. Which is why (I HOPE!) the TV series is a triumph and doesn't a) scrimp on or alter the story, and b) doesn't go all 'woke' and mildly preachy as the newer "All Creatures Great and Small" story has a tendency to do, as much as I really enjoyed that.

I'd love to hear this book read by Stephen Fry or Dawn French (apologies to anyone who might be rolling their eyes at the suggestions) as they can carry the tempo, comedy/tragedy, accent switches and pronounciation with aplomb! (By the way, I'm not having a go at Justine, I just think limitations should be managed better - as I said... lovely voice, just don't worry about trying to attempt accents you don't know).

Enjoy!

Excellent 'story', but narration failed (accents!)

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