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The New Woman

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The New Woman

By: Charity Norman
Narrated by: Gordon Griffin, Maggie Mash, Various
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About this listen

A Radio 2 Book Club choice.

Luke Livingstone is a lucky man. He’s a respected solicitor, a father and grandfather, a pillar of the community. He has a loving wife and an idyllic home in the Oxfordshire countryside. Yet Luke is struggling with an unbearable secret and it’s threatening to destroy him.

All his life, Luke has hidden the truth about himself and his identity. It’s a truth so fundamental that it will shatter his family, rock his community and leave him outcast. But Luke has nowhere left to run, and to continue living, he must become the person – the woman – he knows himself to be, whatever the cost.

©2015 Charity Norman (P)2015 W F Howes Ltd Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Romance Women's Fiction

Critic reviews

"Will appeal to devotees of Joanna Trollope and Jodi Picoult... [Norman] is hot on their heels." ( Daily Mail)
"New Zealand-based author Charity Norman has the...clever knack of taking an issue and examining it from all angles, to see the effect it has on everyone involved." ( New Zealand Herald)
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This book, I felt was beautifully written. Ii took a very sensitive subject and you saw the story unravel from each of the family member's perspectives and how they, in turn, dealt with the difficulties that they were left to deal with.
The story leaves the reader questioning their own feelings and view points surrounding the same subject matter and, in due course, how accepting they are of towards this very brave group of people.
We all find ourselves living in such a multi-cultural society that we should be more understanding and supportive of each other.
This book was both beautifully written and narrated and yes I would recommend it to everyone.
This is a part of every day life that we should all be familiar with, accept and not hold prejudices against those that are living with this frustration and confusion every day.
I loved this read. I commend you Charity Norman on a very fragile subject, both sensitively and empathetically covered!!

A Very Empathetc Stoy

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Brilliant and well thought through. I hope it is read by those that need the insight
My one complaint is associated with the female reader -Maggie. I found her very inauthentic and not especially skilled at ‘male’ voices but not a reason to avoid. The story is more important.

A story that needed writing.

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I can remember staring, sniggering, making covert mocking comments.. thankfully a long time ago…
This book made me reflect and seriously question myself, I learned a lot from this story.
It explains this challenging and unusual situation with compassion. Everyone could learn from this story.
How I wish I could go back to those brave women I covertly stared at and apologise for my ignorance.

Everyone should read this important book

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If it wasn’t for the fact that I like Charity Norman’s books so much, I would have returned this early on. The narration was so overblown, particularly the female narrator, whose shouty delivery and peculiar voicing of males as though she was reading a kids’ storybook I found really off-putting. I’ve never heard anyone talk like that in real life. The story was good.

Good but for the narration

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Absolutely excellent. Sympathetically written. I am sad I did not find this author before now. Need I say more?

Why is this book not a film yet

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