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The Clock Winder

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The Clock Winder

By: Anne Tyler
Narrated by: Suzanne Pirret
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.
The audio edition of The Clock Winder by Anne Tyler.

'Her brilliance in capturing the ripples on the surface of family life gives her a claim to be the Jane Austen of our age' - Allison Pearson, Daily Mail

Having sacked her handyman, newly-widowed Mrs Emerson finds a replacement in Elizabeth, a lanky, awkward girl. The Emersons - there are seven grown-up children - have a reputation for craziness and Elizabeth finds herself drawn into their disorderly lives against her will. But in the end it is hard to tell whether she is a victim of the needy Emersons, or the de facto ruler of the family.


©2019 Anne Tyler (P)2019 Penguin Audio Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological

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All stars
Most relevant
It was difficult to listen to this book. The dialogue is very much louder than the narration.

Awful sound quality

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Great story and Tyler gives her usual depth and detail to the characters. Unfortunately, the narrator spoiled the listening experience with constant inappropriate pausing. Her use of accents was good but did not compensate for the irritation caused by mid sentence pauses and hurried beginnings of new chapters.

Poor narration

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Beautiful expressed with great word choices setting scenes and delineating characters but I found the narrative hard going and the characters less sympathetic than many of Tyler's. A depressing bleaknesshung over my evening reads.

Didn't enjoy as much as other Anne Tylers

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