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The Country Life

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The Country Life

By: Rachel Cusk
Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
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About this listen

WINNER OF THE SOMERSET MAUGHAM AWARD

'Cusk combines humour and striking emotional honesty.'
Financial Times
'Cusk shows a brilliant, and often hilarious funny, aptitude for identifying surreal moments in social interaction.'
Evening Standard
'Cusk is a highly interesting, original writer and more unusually she is a joy to read.'
T he Times

Stella Benson sets off for Hilltop, a tiny Sussex village housing a family that is somewhat larger than life. Her hopes for the Maddens may be high, but her station among them, as au pair to their irascible son Martin - is undeniably low. What could possibly have driven her to leave her home, job and life in London for such rural ignominy? Why has she severed all contact with her parents? Why is she so reluctant to talk about her past?

The Country Life
is a rich and subtle story about embarrassment, awkwardness and being alone; about families, or the lack of them; and about love in some peculiar guises.

©2021 Rachel Cusk (P)2021 Faber & Faber
Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural Village
All stars
Most relevant
The story is dull. The narration is plodding and full of incorrect stresses and mispronunciations.

Dull

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