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The Blood Doctor

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The Blood Doctor

By: Barbara Vine
Narrated by: Robert Powell
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About this listen

The First Lord Nanther, expert in blood diseases, particularly the royal disease of Heamophilia, and favoured physician to Queen Victoria, clearly hoped to be the subject of an admiring posthumous biography. But when his great-grandson, Martin Nanther begins to research his life for a biography, the Martin comes to suspect that his great-grandfather’s old records conceal more than they reveal. Henry had been obsessed with blood, to him, blood was a thing of beauty and he could not fathom how anyone could flinch or faint at the sight of it. As Martin’s research deepens, he begins to wonder whether the mysterious deaths of a number of friends and relatives of his great-grandfather really were mere coincidence or did Henry’s fascination with blood have a much darker side?

©2002 Kingsmarkham Enterprises Ltd (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Royalty Fiction Biography

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All stars
Most relevant
I have enjoyed all of the Barbara Vine novels that I have listened to. This one was no exception. Robert Powell's narration was the icing on the cake!

Totally absorbing

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While it was not a typical Barbara Vine overall the topics were interesting. It was hard going but I did want to understand the end. It was ok but quite dry compared to others which I have really enjoyed.

Hard going

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I found this an interesting story about the history of haemophilia, drawing on the royal connection with Queen Victoria and dark family secrets that leads the protagonist down a troubling path in search of the truth. I liked how this intertwined with a story about infertility in the modern age, told from a male point of view.

Well-researched

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Some books are best read and other benefit from being read out aloud. This is the former for me. The exhaustive list of characters plus those in the family trees were confusing . There was an interesting story there but so stretched that I just wanted it to hurry up. When the denouement came it was hardly a surprise. All a bit tedious for me.

Drawn out tale

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Loved this book. It takes concentration and anyone saying it’s difficult to follow is just lazy because it is brilliant. The writing, the historical insights, the vocabulary, the ‘correctness’ and the twists and turns were fabulous. Still raving about it. Ruth Rendall/Barbara Vine was the stuff of TV dramatisations in my childhood which led me to dismiss her books but I’m so glad that I’ve found them! Loving them!

Brilliant!

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