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The Unravelling

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About this listen

Two women.
A wild Island.
A truth buried deep in the past.

‘Like a surreal cabinet of curiosities – haunting, eerie, evocative’ Bridget Collins, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Binding

‘This moving tale is set in a mesmerising world’ Heat

‘Polly Crosby whips up a lush, mythical world in this dream-like novel . . . A book worm’s treat!’Eve Chase, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Glass House

Tartelin Brown is all alone in the world. So when she sees an advert for a job on a remote island, she knows she has nothing to lose.

Her employer, Marianne Stourbridge, is a woman as strange and mysterious as the place she inhabits.

Tasked with hunting butterflies for Marianne’s research, Tartelin quickly uncovers evidence of something even more intriguing – for Marianne has a remarkable past.

Determined to piece together the story, Tartelin must first confront her own. But what she discovers on the island is more terrible and heart-breaking than she could ever have imagined.

Atmospheric and deeply emotional, The Unravelling is the captivating novel from the author of The Illustrated Child.

©2021 Polly Crosby (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Fantasy Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Magic Magical Realism Women's Fiction
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Just finished this wonderful book - I can usually listen to audio books whilst pottering about the house/garden, but this commanded my full attention. I found the narrator captured the voice of the Island and it’s inhabitants beautifully.

The story starts by lulling you gently into island life - Polly Crosby is a wordsmith and paints stunningly clear and wondrous images - and you get to know the two women sharing this unique space together and yet both so very alone.

As the story progresses there is a deeper, darker narrative which you are pulled into as the different threads of the past and present are masterly inter-woven.

It is melancholic and even harrowing at times, whilst being incredibly cathartic. Not a lighthearted read, but such a beautiful one.

Utterly Absorbing

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What ever happened with the recording of this audio book the narrator sounds terrible!!
The sorry is good but I almost didn’t finish it because of the sound!

Story is good but the sound is terrible!!!

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I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the narration. Liked the pace and the story line

Enjoyable listen

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I loved this book. Really did not want it to end. Atmospheric, haunting and beautifully written.

Captivating!

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