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The Pacifist

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The Pacifist

By: Mehreen Ahmed
Narrated by: Derek Botten
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About this listen

In 1866, Peter Baxter's misfortune ends the day he leaves Badgerys Creek orphanage. Unsure of what to do next, Peter finds himself on a farm run by Mr. Brown. An aging man, Brown needs help and is happy to give Peter a place to live in exchange for his labor. Unbeknownst to Peter, Brown's past is riddled with dark secrets tied to the same orphanage, which he has documented in a red folder.

During a chance encounter, Peter meets Rose. Peter cannot help but fall in love with her beauty, grace, and wit but fears that his affection will go unrequited as a result of his crippling poverty. But fate changes when Peter joins the search for gold in Hill End, New South Wales. Striking it rich, he returns to Rose a wealthy man. Peter is changed by his new found affluence, heading towards the mire of greed. Will Rose regret her relationship with Peter?

Meanwhile, Rose has her own troubled history. One that is deeply entwined with Brown's past and Peter's future.

©2017 Mehreen Ahmed (P)2017 Mehreen Ahmed Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction
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It took me a long time to get into this story, the narrator’s voice, sadly, irritating, and the switch in from American to Australian accents was hard to listen to. But it was the story that kept me listening. The author’s choice to start in the future and then go back in time without indication of the time slip was confusing and I kept waiting for it to return but somewhere along the narrative i realised that was the author’s intention. The tale, with its elements of psychological and the paranormal were enthralling, but one never fully understand what these insinuate. Is Rose being haunted? Or is she simply psychotic or psychic or telepathic.
The embedded theme of the criminal doings of the orphanage and the family’s enthralment to it gave the story an added element of horror just one of the many different themes to this story.
The main character’s were portrayed well, realistically under going metamorphosis throughout the book, the horror of both Rose and Peter’s childhood’s remain on the fringe but nonetheless one cannot but be touched by it.
A haunting, chilling, ethereal dreamlike tale, this story is fascinating, but is as I have said let down by the narrator. It deserves better.

Compelling tale let down by the narration

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