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The Virgin Blue

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The Virgin Blue

By: Tracy Chevalier
Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow
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About this listen

 This is the compelling story of two women, born centuries apart, and the ancestral legacy that binds them. Ella Turner tries hard to fit into the small, close-knit community of the French town that she has moved to. She even changes her name back to Tournier, and knocks the rust off her high-school French. However, isolated and lonely, she is drawn to investigate her Tournier ancestry, with heart-wrenching results.©1997 Tracy Chevalier (P)1997 BBC Audiobooks Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Metaphysical & Visionary
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Would you try another book written by Tracy Chevalier or narrated by Laurel Lefkow?

I would read more by Tracy Chevalier but never again if narrated by Laurel Lefkow!

If you’ve listened to books by Tracy Chevalier before, how does this one compare?

I preferred some of later titles.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator uses very badly performed ascents for each character. The story is set in France, so why do French people speak with French accents? - Pretentious and unnecessarily and totally annoying.

Why use ascents for characters who are supposed to live in the country that the story is set in? There are far better literary mean of conveying a feel for the country that a story is set then using silly ascents.

Performance very uninspiring

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I have read this book twice in hardback so when I saw this on Audible I had to get it. It is so well read and it's like being in a play every character sounds so different. What does that other reviewer mean 'performance is uninspiring'! were we even listening to the same story? I just closed my eyes and I was there, even my husband loved it. Don't be put off people you will love it.

Favourite book.

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well written and researched . great family history traced back over centuries. really enjoyable to listen to.

well written

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So sad in some places it was hard to listen. Historical research from a period not frequently covered in English. Loved it!! Unclear if there was any magic or not too which was interesting

Poignant story and convincing narrator

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This book was a welcome accompaniment to a summer visit to Washington DC, Miami and Orlando - and the book, which verges on aspirant, but at times pedestrian, chick-lit retains much of the flavour of the trip in my mind. High-minded pastiche, nonsensical but expensive fun in the sun and downright unadulterated commercialism, you see where I'm going on this one.
Chevalier's France it seems to me has more to do with a laudatory viewing of the Claude Berri opus taken with a heavy dose of appetent genelogical angst - and screams 'I've found my 'House in the Sun' now just guess who my ancestors turned out to be....Not a classic, but well presented and certainly set to weather the credit crunch.
I read somewhere that Ms Chevalier decided to change her name before moving to Europe. Whilst I vaguely remember it had a more Shanks's Pony ring to it, I can find no record of her original nom before it was de plume'd.

Welcome Ghosts in Tracey's House in the Sun.

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