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The Favoured Child
- Wideacre, Book 2
- Narrated by: Kate Rawson
- Series: Wideacre, Book 2
- Length: 25 hrs and 27 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
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Philippa Gregory's first story in the best-selling Wideacre trilogy. A compelling tale of passion and intrigue set in the 18th century. From the author of The Other Boleyn Girl and The Virgin's Lover. Wideacre Hall, set in the heart of the English countryside, is the ancestral home that Beatrice Lacey loves. But as a woman of the 18th century, she has no right of inheritance. Corrupted by a world that mistreats women, she sets out to corrupt others.
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More like "50 shades of grey".....
- By Amazon Customer on 14-10-17
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Not as engrossing as tu book 1.
- By Paula on 29-11-20
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A traveller in a time of discovery, the greatest gardening pioneer of his day, yet a man of humble birth: John Tradescant's story is a mirror to the extraordinary age in which he lives. As gardener and confidant to Sir Robert Cecil, Tradescant is well placed to observe the social and political changes that are about to sweep through the kingdom.
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An engrossing start which sadly got monotonous
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Bristol in 1787 is booming, from its stinking docks to its elegant new houses. Josiah Cole, a small dockside trader, is prepared to gamble everything to join the big players of the city. But he needs ready cash and a well-connected wife. An arranged marriage to Frances Scott is a mutually convenient solution. Trading her social contacts for Josiah’s protection, Frances enters the world of the Bristol merchants and finds her life and fortune dependent on the respectable trade of sugar, rum and slaves.
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Five star performance
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Virgin Earth
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John Tradescant the Younger has inherited his father’s unique collection of plants along with his unerring ability to nurture them. But as gardener to Charles I, he confronts an unbearable dilemma when England descends into Civil War. Fleeing from the chaos, John travels to the Royalist colony of Virginia in America. But the virgin land is not uninhabited. John’s plant hunting brings him to live with the native people, and he learns to love and respect their way of life just as it is threatened by the colonial settlers.
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Great story & tribute to the Tradescant family
- By Lillian on 22-09-19
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Tidelands
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Alinor, a descendant of wise women, crushed by poverty and superstition, waits in the graveyard under the full moon for a ghost who will declare her free from her abusive husband. Instead she meets James, a young man on the run, and shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marsh, not knowing that she is leading disaster into the heart of her life. Suspected of possessing dark secrets in superstitious times, Alinor’s ambition and determination mark her out from her neighbours.
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Engaging story, sadly let down by narration
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Philippa Gregory's first story in the best-selling Wideacre trilogy. A compelling tale of passion and intrigue set in the 18th century. From the author of The Other Boleyn Girl and The Virgin's Lover. Wideacre Hall, set in the heart of the English countryside, is the ancestral home that Beatrice Lacey loves. But as a woman of the 18th century, she has no right of inheritance. Corrupted by a world that mistreats women, she sets out to corrupt others.
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More like "50 shades of grey".....
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Midsummer’s Eve, 1670. A wealthy man waits outside a poor London warehouse to meet with Alinor, the woman he failed 21 years before. He has everything to offer: money, land, status - and he believes she has the only thing he cannot buy: his son and heir. Meanwhile in New England, Alinor’s brother, Ned, cannot find justice in the New World, as the king’s revenge stretches across the Atlantic and turns the pioneers against each other and against the American Indians.
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Not as engrossing as tu book 1.
- By Paula on 29-11-20
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A traveller in a time of discovery, the greatest gardening pioneer of his day, yet a man of humble birth: John Tradescant's story is a mirror to the extraordinary age in which he lives. As gardener and confidant to Sir Robert Cecil, Tradescant is well placed to observe the social and political changes that are about to sweep through the kingdom.
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An engrossing start which sadly got monotonous
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Bristol in 1787 is booming, from its stinking docks to its elegant new houses. Josiah Cole, a small dockside trader, is prepared to gamble everything to join the big players of the city. But he needs ready cash and a well-connected wife. An arranged marriage to Frances Scott is a mutually convenient solution. Trading her social contacts for Josiah’s protection, Frances enters the world of the Bristol merchants and finds her life and fortune dependent on the respectable trade of sugar, rum and slaves.
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Five star performance
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Overall
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John Tradescant the Younger has inherited his father’s unique collection of plants along with his unerring ability to nurture them. But as gardener to Charles I, he confronts an unbearable dilemma when England descends into Civil War. Fleeing from the chaos, John travels to the Royalist colony of Virginia in America. But the virgin land is not uninhabited. John’s plant hunting brings him to live with the native people, and he learns to love and respect their way of life just as it is threatened by the colonial settlers.
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Great story & tribute to the Tradescant family
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Alinor, a descendant of wise women, crushed by poverty and superstition, waits in the graveyard under the full moon for a ghost who will declare her free from her abusive husband. Instead she meets James, a young man on the run, and shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marsh, not knowing that she is leading disaster into the heart of her life. Suspected of possessing dark secrets in superstitious times, Alinor’s ambition and determination mark her out from her neighbours.
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Engaging story, sadly let down by narration
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Her best book yet.
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Great story
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Eleanor of Aquitaine's story is legendary. She is an icon who has fascinated readers for over 800 years. But the real Eleanor remains elusive - until now. Based on the most up-to-date research, best-selling novelist Elizabeth Chadwick brings Eleanor's magnificent story to life, as never before. Young, vibrant, privileged, Eleanor's future is golden as the heiress to wealthy Aquitaine. But when her beloved father dies suddenly in the summer of 1137, her childhood ends abruptly.
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Beautifully written & a joy to listen to.
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preferred the book
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This is NOT unabridged
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Why would a woman marry a serial killer? Because she cannot refuse.... Kateryn Parr, a 30-year-old widow in a secret affair with a new lover, has no choice when a man old enough to be her father, who has buried four wives - King Henry VIII - commands her to marry him. Kateryn has no doubt about the danger she faces: the previous queen lasted 16 months, the one before barely half a year.
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Really njoyable read but finishes too early
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NOW A MAJOR BBC DRAMA starring Romola Garai, Chris O'Dowd, Gillian Anderson, Richard E. Grant, Shirley Henderson and Mark Gatiss. 'Watch your step. Keep your wits about you; you will need them....' So begins this irresistible voyage into the dark side of Victorian London. Amongst an unforgettable cast of low-lifes, physicians, businessmen, and prostitutes, meet our heroine Sugar, a young woman trying to drag herself up from the gutter any way she can.
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I loved it!
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A wicked woman wins!
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The year is 1562. Lady Catherine Grey, cousin of Elizabeth I, has just been arrested along with her husband, Edward. Their crime is to have secretly married and produced a child who might threaten the Queen's title. Alone in her chamber at the Tower of London, Catherine hears ghostly voices; echoes, she thinks, of a crime committed in the same room where she is imprisoned.
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It does get better
- By Jo on 23-08-13
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The Foundling
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London, 1754. Six years after leaving her illegitimate daughter Clara at London's Foundling Hospital, Bess Bright returns to reclaim the child she has never known. Dreading the worst, that Clara has died in care, she is astonished when she is told she has already claimed her. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl - and why.
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Just loved every word.....
- By Miss Sarah E Wilby on 16-02-20
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A Perfect Heritage
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The House of Farrell - home of The Cream, an iconic face product that has seen women flocking to its bijoux flagship store in the Berkeley Arcade since 1953. At Farrell, you can rely on the personal touch. The legendary Athina Farrell remains the company's figurehead and in her kingdom at the Berkeley Arcade, Florence Hamilton plies their cosmetics with the utmost discretion. She is sales advisor - and holder of secrets - extraordinaire. But of course the world of cosmetics is changing and the once glorious House of Farrell is now in decline.
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I LOVED this story!
- By Liz on 08-08-14
Summary
Second in the best-selling Wideacre Trilogy, a compulsive drama set in the 18th century. By Philippa Gregory, the author of The Other Boleyn Girl and The Virgin's Lover.
The Wideacre estate is bankrupt, the villagers are living in poverty and Wideacre Hall is a smoke-blackened ruin. But in the Dower House, two children are being raised in protected innocence. Equal claimants to the inheritance of Wideacre, rivals for the love of the village, they are tied by a secret childhood betrothal but forbidden to marry.
Only one can be the favoured child. Only one can inherit the magical understanding between the land and the Lacey family that can make the Sussex village grow green again. Only one can be Beatrice Lacey's true heir.
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What listeners say about The Favoured Child
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-04-18
Audiobook 2 ruined
I listened to Wideacre Book 1 and was enraptured. I couldn’t wait to start book 2 but sadly had to give up after a few chapters. A different narrator was used for book 2, ruining any continuity and imagined characters from book 1. Accents and characters voices were annoying and verging on caricatures. My experience of serial audiobooks is that characters are built and maintained through the use of one narrator. So disappointed.
8 people found this helpful
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- Lindsay
- 05-11-17
Middle in many senses
Kept me listening but seems to be written mainly to provide a narrative for next book. Hoping that's a bit better.
13 people found this helpful
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- Mrs. O. W. Hawkins
- 22-09-17
Thoroughly enjoyable
The story made me cry but I could not stop listening, keen to hear the next turn of events
11 people found this helpful
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- lizzie
- 03-06-18
Not the best Philippa Gregory for me
This felt as if it was written by a very different author than the Gregory books I have read previously. Have to say it was not to my taste at all The characters are despicable and even the "heroine" was irritating. Of course, it is my personal view but if this had been my first Gregory book I would not have tried another.
2 people found this helpful
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- h
- 25-08-18
without doubt one of the worst books
I have listened to. story and characters unbelievable. narrative dull and repetitive. disappointing from pg
1 person found this helpful
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- Helen White
- 19-04-18
Couldn’t wait to finish it
I love Philippa Gregory but couldn’t bear this book. The main character of Julia Irritated me so much that I just couldn’t wait to finish it!
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 01-02-20
loved it
A genre I wouldn't normally choose but have thoroughly enjoyed escaping into another time. The story made me gasp a few times and I found myself wanting to intercept! my only criticism is ... I wasn't overkeen on the narration, but that's personal opinion. Looking forward to the last book in the trilogy but am waiting for my credit!
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- Kindle Customer
- 18-10-19
Love the book but not the narrator
I've read this book many times, this trilogy is darkly brilliant and I always enjoy it. But what, right from the start killed it a little, were the silly character voices by the narrator. These people are supposed to be Sussex gentry not young Queen Elizabeths. It's not a pantomime. It detracts from the story.
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- Annie
- 07-04-19
I Enjoyed Book Two More When I Read It To Myself!
In my opinion, Emma Powell read book one, better than Kate Rawson read Book 2. Personally, I preferred it when I read the text myself. I felt with both books, too much of the reader was in the characters, rather than the characters, as originally written by the author. Once again, though set in pastoral England, the story will not run as expected. The story is told of the next generation at Wideacre.
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- pat smith
- 29-08-18
Mixed feelings!
disappointed there was too much heartache. I should have known it was in the first book. I didn't like the incestuous references but felt the characters were played out to their best. I've got the final book to listen to and hope it gives me the happy ending I'm looking for.
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- Reademandweep
- 22-10-17
Good Reader but Repetitive and Disappointing
I'm a fan of Philippa Gregory but was disappointed in this one. Kate Rawson does a fine job of reading but the story is long and the theme repeats over and over. How many chapters or pages can we endure while the villain does terrible things and the (supposed) heroine is too weak to do anything. How long must we wait while everyone suffers from the wrath of a psychopath while the main character, stands by? After a while it's hard to have sympathy for the heroine. Additionally, there are many many pages where dialogue is simply repeated. Example; Character1 gives a speech to Character2 about "you're screwed now", Character2 responds "what?!" and Character1 repeats the entire long speech again. This is not rare. It happens throughout the book. Too much repetition. Bad enough with the dialogue but worse when the situations are repetitive. Maybe this book would be better if it was shorter. After the main characters get beyond childhood, the whole book keeps repeating the same set of circumstances until I wouldn't have minded if someone killed the heroine to end the book.
Sorry because I'm a huge fan of Philippa Gregory. If you don't like this book, don't let it deter you from listening to her other books. .
12 people found this helpful
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- Dayna B.
- 17-12-17
Great story but wrong performance
The narration was too breathy in the dialog. She read all the dialog like it was a steamy dime store novella. I read these books years ago and they got me hooked on Phillipa Gregory so I was eager for this series to become available on Audible. It was the same great story but in the dialog parts, the narrator was way to dramatic, breathy, and her accents were REALLY BAD! She used a sing-song sort of rhythm to "create" the accents and instead, it really took away from the story. I HATE to say it because I love these books and I LOVE Audible And I LOVE Phillipa Gregory! But this performance was a fail for me. I was going to have my husband listen to them too because I didn't remember them as being girlie romance novels but the performance makes them feel that way and my husband will NEVER go for that.
5 people found this helpful
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- Jacki Farrar
- 01-12-17
hard going
I am a fan of Phillips Gregory but really struggled to finish this book. The main characters are beyond frustrating. Richard is just revolting and Julia just made me want to slap her into sense. I am finding it hard to talk myself into going for book 3.
9 people found this helpful
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- Robyn
- 25-03-18
Dreadful stilted narration
Would you try another book from Philippa Gregory and/or Kate Rawson?
Sometimes the narration can lift a poor story. The narrator in this series is very stilted and particularly with the male voices which are over-dramatic. jolting and not believable. (Contrast this with the first book in this series: The story is a bit trashy, but Emma Powell brought it to life, and I would love to hear her voice reading some more serious works.)
How did the narrator detract from the book?
I will make sure to avoid this narrator in future.
3 people found this helpful
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- Sharon
- 31-12-18
Too predictable
I usually love her books but this one was much too predictable and in the spots not, just plain weird. The story was too long too. Could have cut at least an hour of reading out.
1 person found this helpful
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- Mel R. H.
- 23-06-18
Not AS Good as 'Wideacre'...
🚨⚠️🛑 CAUTION | SPOILERS! 🛑⚠️🚨 ¬ ¬ ¬ I think a big part of my problem was the narrator's often melodramatic interpretation of Julia Lacey's words; a lot of whininess. I interpreted her saying most things in a different tone. Her Scottish accent for John all but ruins the character, though, honestly, I think the character underwent a bit of a change between 'Wideacre' and 'The Favoured Child.' He went from being one of my favorite characters and a truly understanding man to kind of being a closed minded and distant on things I didn't think he would be. I would have assumed he'd have had more of a wedge in his relationship with his "son," but, after a couple of instances of briefly crossed swords, it seemed like a vaguely normal relationship; as if he wasn't actually raising the incestuous bastard of his former wife, and psychological and emotional tormenter, and hadn't been totally neglectful of Richard as a baby precisely because he'd wanted nothing to do with him... I would have assumed he would have a difficult time trusting Richard and would be more open to Julia's influence than Richard's. I would be wrong. 🤷🏼♀️ But the narrator's horrid Scottish accent definitely didn't help anything... But I felt like the story was more loosely held together here. Why didn't she arrange for literally anyone else she came into contact with from Acre to send a letter to James Fortescue? The only reason Richard was able to suspect there was something going on and intercept the letter was because she handed it off to Jimmy while he was nearby and could see her talking to him... So, arrange to meet someone else from Acre, go, then instruct them to give it to a third party, just in case. She should have gotten Ralph to deliver it. Honestly, if someone in Acre was merely just posting and receiving letters FOR her, at their home, and Richard didn't know about it, it wouldn't even need to be hand delivered to James. They could leave the recieved letters in a specific spot on Wideacre, hidden away, so that there doesn't even have to be a meet up. And she really only needed to mail 1-2 letters go get him to come out there anyway. Plot hole, lol. 😆😉 She gave up on trying to contact James too easily in my mind. But I know Richard started mentally beating her down. I still think her mind was free enough at that time to do it. I was shipping Julia and Ralph the whole time and that didn't work out. 😖 I was hoping Ralph would be the only one who'd realize what was happening to her and save her by taking her away to somewhere safe, where people didn't know her, and offering to raise the child as his own with her (while hopefully confessing his undying live!), but also not before killing Richard. To me, the book seemed to very strongly insinuate that Julia and Ralph were destined for each other, especially after James was removed from the picture, and then that just never happened. At all. A pretty big let down for me, I have to say. But I suppose others could read into it differently. It just seemed to be in the pages themselves. This series is pretty obsessed with incest. While that doesn't bother me overall, it is a bit like "we JUST *had* a load of bizarre incest" when it starts up again in this book. It's just not really something you can simply sprinkle into everything, lol. It stands out big time. And this time it's doubly disgusting because they're both the children of the same brother and sister who then, through rape, procreate again...😨 I've read the first chapter of 'Meridon' and the Laceys must have very diverse, healthy genes for their daughter to not have apparent genetic issues. 😬 I feel like it's a theme and will somehow manage to carry over into the 3rd book, 'Meridon.' Bit weird. But, overall, it was a pretty good book. A LOT of my problems come from the narrator and her interpretation of voices, accents and tones. Her voice for Richard was grating... Yes, I understand he likes to put on airs and probably sounds slightly more aristocratic than anyone else in the family because of it, but he's made to sound like some kind of nasally Little Lord Fauntleroy type, even into his late teens. I feel like I want to go back and actually, literally read it just to see how much the story changes. Regardless, it was enjoyable and I read it very quickly, actually, for my reading pace - 2 weeks, 4 days.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Paula
- 02-10-20
Yet Another
Yet another wonderful story by Philippa Gregory. Second in the Wideacre Trilogy. Just as good as the first book. I am very anxious to get started on the third. I know I will enjoy it also.
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- CT Bravo
- 14-10-19
Wild, Beautiful and Edgy
This is a wonderful continuation of the Wideacre books brilliantly written and narrated. This second generation of Lacey squire is as complex, delusional and tragic which makes this a page-turner and have you holding on like an inexperienced rider on a spirited mare. This dramatic story of love, loss, dark secrets and consequences will keep you on a knives’ edge and have you wanting more!
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- Paul Rubacky
- 03-05-18
Philippa really let us down
stuggled to finish. dissappointed in wimpyness and mindlessness of heroine Julia. Duh! wanted to smack her on more than a few occassions. Philippa let us down with a pathetic heroine.
1 person found this helpful
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- CindiKilgore
- 18-12-17
Twisted Story, great read!
You have a sick mind! The book is twisted and disgusting but is a great read.