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The Letter Reader

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About this listen

London, 1941. Keen to do her bit in the war, Connie Allinson joins the WRNS and is posted as a letter censor. Her task: to read and alter correspondence to ensure no sensitive information crosses enemy lines. At first, she is not sure she's up to it, but is soon drawn in by the letters she reads, and their secret...

Doncaster, 1967. Bored of her domestic life, Connie desperately wants a job, but her controlling husband Arthur won't hear of it. Looking for an escape and plagued by memories of letters she read during the war, she makes a bid for freedom and starts secretly tracking down their authors. Will uncovering their past give Connie the key to her present? And will she be able to find them all before Arthur discovers what she is keeping from him?

©2023 Jan Casey (P)2023 Soundings 20th Century Fiction Historical Fiction
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Really enjoyed this story which is excellently read by the clever and creative Annie Aldington

However, despite knowing that poor Connie *should* be the character that stirred my pity, it was Arthur who in fact did that. My heart broke for him - throughout. I am out-datedly gender stereotyping here, but the story gives a fairly accurate portrayal of how so many men can be unable to express their feelings - and therefore they go to ‘that place’ of clumsy incompetence; in Arthur’s case it comes across as chauvinistic and, although this was not uncommon for the era, he made so much reference to how he wanted to protect Constance. Being her ‘Constance’s constant’. I wanted to wrap my arms around him. Often!

A good depiction of the lack of ownership/acknowledgement of one’s true self on Connie’s part - this is a story with under layers of humans being filled with fear; on both character’s counts.
I overall enjoyed this story 👏🏽
but it definitely pulled at my heart strings.

Pulled at my heart strings

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Loved this book and listen to how times have changed.
love honour and Obey! taken to the extreme.
love the narrator.

Easy listening

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