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The Premonitions Bureau

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About this listen

'Fascinating.' Hilary Mantel
'Terrific.' New Scientist
'Gripping.' Financial Times
'Stunning . . . Brimming with mystery and suffesed with haunting atmosphere.' Patrick Radden Keefe

What if you had a vision that something terrible was going to happen?

A train crash, a department store fire, an assassination.

What if you could share your vision, and prevent a disaster?

In 1966, John Barker, a British psychiatrist working in an outdated British mental hospital, established the Premonitions Bureau to investigate this very idea. He would find a network of curious correspondents, and among them two highly gifted 'percipients'. Together, they predicted calamities and international incidents with uncanny accuracy. And then, they gave Barker their most disturbing warning: that he was about to die.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Sam Knight (P)2022 Faber Audio Europe Great Britain History & Culture Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Psychology & Interactions Technology & Society Technology Thought-Provoking Mental Health

Critic reviews

‘Fascinating.’ Hilary Mantel

‘Terrific.’ New Scientist

‘Gripping.’ Financial Times
All stars
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This is so beautifully written - clever without being smug, funny without being cruel, sensitive without being sugary. I so wanted to believe the precipients, to believe in some kind of hole in the space time continuum. I loved being in the psychiatric hospital, on Fleet Street, even at Aberfan. He writes as though he was there - an incredible evocation of a time completely gone by but just within touching distance. I loved this.

Fabulous writing

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Very well read, but it had me confused (and I still am). From the blurb I’d assume this was fiction, some sort of supernatural suspense story (and the style of narration still has me unsure) but the further I get through it (we are now on air crashes) the more I’m coming to the conclusion this is more of a history book.

Confused, I thought this was fiction

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beautifully researched, sensitively told, this fascinating story was so wonderful, I read it without stopping.

superb, cannot put it down

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As many noted there is no premonitions bureau. However, if you’re willing to go beyond that, the amazing performance of the reader makes this book so much more interesting and engaging that it’s was definitely worth my time.

The performance lifts this book to 4.5*

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I don't know what I was expecting when I started listening but it wasn't what I got. It was a really nice book, interesting story and I enjoyed it. the narrator was good. nice voice. it went in a different direction to what I had imagined but that actually made it better. I would recommend this if you fancy an interesting easy listen. I listened to this in 2 sittings it was so good.

an easy listen

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