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The Camomile Lawn

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About this listen

Summer 1939 and five cousins gather at the house with the camomile lawn for what, for many of them, will be the last summer of their youth.

©1984 Mary Wesley (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction War & Military Military
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I really loved this story. It has been filmed by the BBC but there are some parts that had to be changed or omitted. You wouldn't know that this detracts from the story until, like me you read it yourself or have it read to you. It is warm, humorous, sad and incredibly moving. I am thankful that I was not born until after the war but these characters and their stories made me wish I had been there - and isn't that what a good story is all about?

The British at war as only we could be

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Carole Boyd goes straight on my list of perfect readers. I've long admired her reading of poetry, and now can add her reading of Wesley.

The Camomile Lawn is Wesley at her idiosyncratic best. Her characters are intensely human, often behave badly and are frequently unlovable, which makes them all the more interesting. Her wit is viper-quick, non-pc. and utterly unsentimental.

I think I might loatthe her characters in real-life, but I love them on paper.

I wish there was an audiobook of my favourite, The Vacillations of Poppy Carew.

Beautifully read

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insightful, funny, historically accurate and wonderfully written. the story grabs you from page one and never lets go. characters are flawed but deep.

beautiful story of love and friendship

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I’ve always loved this book and listening to it for the first time was a great pleasure. Carole Boyd is an excellent narrator and the upper middle class world war 2 saga, set in Cornwall and in London took me away from today and kept me company as I binge listened over the May Bank Holiday. Unlike modern novels this is a slow and mainly gentle story but it does contain some difficult topics. It also is of it’s time. The relationships of wartime, the sexism, the upper crust of society, well written by Mary Wesley who was born in 1912 and was a successful novelist of many similar sagas.
I really enjoyed it. I also recommend the TV series of the same name which is still available on DVD. It is a brilliant adaptation of the book and very true to the original. Some great actors too.

A Classic Family Saga

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Loved this book and it was beautifully read . Thank you for 9 glorious hours .Highly recommended

Brilliant

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