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The Observations

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About this listen

 Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, 2007.

In this novel, set in Scotland in 1863, Bessy Buckley attempts to escape her past by taking a job as a maid in a big house outside of Edinburgh, where she works for the beautiful Arabella. Bessy is intrigued by her new employer, but puzzled by her increasingly strange requests.

© Jane Harris; (P) Clipper Audio Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Romance Scotland Funny Witty

Critic reviews

"Bessy's unique, witty voice distinguishes this boisterous novel." ( Booklist)"Sharp, funny and tender-hearted." ( Publishers Weekly)
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I loved this book.
The Observations is a brilliant and original story, told in the first person by the irrepressible Irish heroine, Bessy Buckley.
Bessy has some wonderful expressions; which are delightfully comic and create hilarious visual images. This is a book full of comedy but it is also deeply moving, dark and tragic.
The Observations is read by Jane Harris, the author. It is the best read audiobook I have listened to. The accents of the characters are wonderful, especially that of Bessy herself.
Highly recommended.

Excellent novel; brilliantly read by the author

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Excellent story, intriguing characters and very well read.

Observations

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This was an absolute pleasure to listen to - Jane Harris does a great job of capturing her characters, and Bessy's voice particularly is vivid and engaging.

At the start of this book, young Bessy Buckly, a sharp-tongued and street-smart Irish girl, is on her way to Edinburgh where she hopes to get a job in the castle. She passes a garden where a lady is trying rather hopelessly to catch a pig - it turns out that the maid has just walked out, trashing the kitchen (and letting out the pig) before she did so.

Bessy talks her way into the newly vacated position... and at this point, I thought I knew how the story was going to play out. Cunning maid, innocent mistress, and so forth.

But, although Bessy does turn out to have a shady past, nothing in this book plays out as the reader might expect. I think Jane Harris must have had great fun writing this, as the narrative leads the reader up all sorts of Gothic alleys, complete with brooding husband, hidden compartments, dark secrets and insanity.

She certainly seems to have had fun reading it, and I can't imagine anyone doing it better - certainly, Bessy's no-nonsense voice, full of earthy slang, was a delight to listen to and I am sure came over more vividly than it would have done on the page.

Perhaps the ending was slightly too neat given the twists and turns of the story before, but this was an absolute pleasure to listen to and I would recommend it to anyone. I'd probably rate the book itself 4 stars, but the audiobook 5.

I am only disappointed that Harris has not read the audiobooks of any of her other novels.

Wonderfully read

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Have just finnished listening to this book and felt compeled to write a review as I can not fault it. The naration was the best I have heard on my audible subscription. The story kept me hooked to the end and the end was very satisfing. Hope there will be another Jane Harris book to listen to.

loved it

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This is the second audio book I have listened to and I really enjoyed it. It had me laughing out loud on several occasions and crying at others. The author doing the reading was perfect. This is a story I wanted to go on and on. Very pleasant and pleasing to the ear. Although quite predictible it was a delight to listen to.

Very Enjoyable

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