Magic Flutes
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Magic Flutes
Buy Now for £12.99
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Narrated by:
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Kate Lock
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By:
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Eva Ibbotson
About this listen
Spring, 1922. Tessa is a beautiful, tiny, dark-eyed princess who’s given up her duties to follow her heart and work backstage at the Viennese opera. She keeps her true identity a well-guarded secret, but when a wealthy, handsome Englishman discovers this bewitching urchin backstage, Tessa’s two lives collide - and in escaping her inheritance, she finds her destiny....
©2009 Eva Ibbotson (P)2012 W F Howes LtdListeners also enjoyed...
![The Shifting Fog [also published under the alternate title The House at Riverton] cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Q2blgTvtL._SL240_.jpg)
The narrator cannot ‘do’ accents but is determined to try and fails miserably which does get in the way of the story. When using her own voice to read the description/story etc she is good until she forgets and stops being neutral and starts emphasising words unnecessarily.
The narrator and director/producer seem not to understand the story, as another reviewer writes, the book clearly states that the Guy Farne character leaves his NE accent as soon as he crosses the Tyne bridge and Tessa had an English grandmother… why bother with accents when they are clearly a problem for the narrator and not really essential for the listener?
Did anyone at W H Howes listen to this before it was released?
Don’t be put off the stories Eva Ibbotson wrote for adult/young adult readership - they are entertaining and amusing with a strong sense of place, good description and interesting characters. This story is a good one, this spoken word interpretation is poor.
Poor narration & direction
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lovely fairy tale but the narration, oh dear.
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Gorgeous story, horrendous narration
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Gorgeous story
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What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
More sensitive reading.What did you like best about this story?
The book itself is excellent - a gripping and well written historical romance with strong characters.What didn’t you like about Kate Lock’s performance?
I really don't like to be negative and don't usually do bad reviews but this performance upset me. The book clearly states that the heroine does not have a strong accent but sounds like a German character from Allo Allo, while the hero, who is described as being able to take back on his Geordie accent when he returns home from his sophisticated world, has a strong Newcastle accent throughout - he just wouldn't have had, in this period. More than that, several words were mispronounced throughout - I really think an actor reading for Audible should know that the composer is "Donizetti" not "Donzinetti" for example. I know it sounds like a little thing but it's incredibly disruptive to the listening experience, especially when it's on the final page.What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
I was really quite sad that a favourite book hadn't been very well served by the reader.Any additional comments?
I don't know why this upset me so much, except that it makes you feel the reader doesn't care very much if they can't be bothered to pick up on the character descriptions given by the author. It's as though we're considered too stupid to notice.I love Audible and listen to your books all the time; please don't think I'm being horrible for the sake of it. But I won't choose another book read by this actor.
Disappointing
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