Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Slow March of Light cover art

The Slow March of Light

By: Heather B. Moore
Narrated by: Stephen Graybill, Christa Lewis
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £20.99

Buy Now for £20.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

No Man's Land cover art
A Bitter Veil cover art
The Lion's Den cover art
The Paris Showroom cover art
The Exile and the Mapmaker cover art
Unspoken Words cover art
The Watchmaker's Daughter cover art
War Girl Ursula cover art
The Library of Legends cover art
On the Run in Nazi Berlin cover art
Chateau of Secrets: A Novel cover art
Beneath a Scarlet Sky cover art
The Hiding Place cover art
Chasing Shadows cover art
The Love Stories of the Bible Speak cover art
Uncultured cover art

Summary

A riveting and emotionally gripping novel of an American soldier working as a spy in Soviet-occupied East Germany and a West German woman secretly helping her countrymen escape from behind the Berlin Wall

In the summer of 1961, a wall of barbed wire goes up quickly in the dead of night, officially dividing Berlin. Luisa Voigt lives in West Berlin, but her grandmother lives across the border and is now trapped inside the newly isolated communist country of East Germany. Desperate to rescue her grandmother and aware of the many others whose families have been divided, Luisa joins a secret spy network, risking her life to help bring others through a makeshift underground tunnel to West Germany. Their work is dangerous, and not everyone will successfully escape or live to see freedom.

Bob Inama was an outstanding university student with plans to attend law school when he is drafted into the US Army. Stationed in West Germany, he is glad to be fluent in German, especially after meeting Luisa Voigt at a church social. As they spend time together, they form a close connection. But when Bob receives classified orders to leave for undercover work immediately, he does not get the chance to say good-bye.

With a fake identity, Bob’s special assignment is to be a spy embedded in East Germany. His undercover job will give him access to government sites to map out strategic military targets. But Soviet and East German spies, the secret police, and Stasi informants are everywhere, and eventually Bob is caught and sent to a brutal East German prison. Interrogated and tortured daily, Bob clings to any hope he can find - from the sunlight that marches across the wall of his prison, to the one guard who secretly treats him with kindness, to the thought of one day seeing Luisa again.

Author Heather B. Moore masterfully alternates the stories of Bob and Luisa, capturing the human drama unique to Cold War Germany as well as the courage and the resilience of the human spirit.

©2021 Heather B. Moore (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

What listeners say about The Slow March of Light

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    28
  • 4 Stars
    12
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    26
  • 4 Stars
    13
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    23
  • 4 Stars
    15
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Profound yet inspirational

A well written and well narrated account of an amazing and seemingly humble person who experienced and suffered so much. The account is told in a captivating way with a story line that I could not put down. It has made me reflect much on all that people were challenged by during this very difficult period of history. Thank you for a touching yet excellent audio book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Engaging, insightful and inspiring.

A well crafted story that sheds light on the hidden struggles and atrocities of the cold war in Berlin.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Author ruined a great story with over sentimentality. Narration very poor.

Author ruined a great story - overly sentimental. Narration very poor. Such a shame as could have been much better.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Fact & Fiction

I really enjoyed this book but as it is with American films and history, the author has done the same... Mixed facts with fiction.

Its hard to understand why some people need to do this! It's either to embellish a story that lacks something or, to enhance the story and give it more substance. Either way you begin to mix the fact with the fiction. Personally, I find that issue troublesome.

However in this particular case it doesn't detract from a very well written story.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic!

A gripping tale of events from start to finish. Highlighting a time in history post WW2 and the long, cold shadow it cast. A really great way to wrap a biography. Highly recommended.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The Slow March of Light

I think this could have been a really good novel had the author had a bit more leeway with the truth, or if Bob had been a bit more forthcoming - He didn't read like a real person. The (mostly) fictitious female character seemed way more like an actual human being than Bob did. He didn't have any faults at all!

The author managed to create a good book around the limitations she faced in terms of either Bob's own lack of introspection, or his lack of fully sharing his personal insight with Moore.

I especially found it really interesting to hear about the post WW2 era in Germany, particularly Berlin. I don't really know too much about the Cold War. You don't really hear too much about this time in German history - all the books or movies etc.. choosing to focus on the preceding World War.


Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

The principal interest here is the true story of courage and suspense on which the novel is based. However, it is sorely let down by poor writing (very pulpy style and cliched imagery) and a truly awful performance by Stephen Graybill. How on earth he was chosen is astonishing. He sounds completely bored and he delivers his lines as if he's reading a railway timetable. He makes no effort whatsoever with German pronunciation and seems to think Adolf should be pronounced Adoff. Christa Lewis is better - she pronounces the German very well, but her style is also rather dull and she insists on giving her male characters a ludicrous gruff voice (rather like a small child trying to imitate a monster). I could have coped with the indifferent and colourless writing style if not for these two performances, which completely ruined it for me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Incredible book

This is an amazing book without cliches and is well researched. It is one of my favourites so far from audible and would recommend to all.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Inspired

A wonderful story of truth and composition that leaves you hoping and willing for the right outcome. Fast paced and read beautifully by the narrators, each chapter fills you with hope and possible dread. For those that that have knowledge of the Stasi and the brave people of divided Berlin, this is a must.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it!

Really enjoyed this. What an inspirational and lovely man, who endured so much. Such a great book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!