Frances and Bernard
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Narrated by:
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Angela Brazil
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Stephen R. Thorne
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By:
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Carlene Bauer
About this listen
Bernard Elliot, a poet, and Frances Reardon, a fiction writer, meet at a writers' colony during the summer of 1957 and begin a friendship and correspondence. Bernard, well-born and Harvard-educated, is gregarious, reckless, and passionate; Frances, the precocious daughter of a middle-class Irish family, is circumspect, wry, and more than a little judgmental. What starts as an exploration of faith eventually becomes a romance, a development complicated by Bernard's fall into manic depression and Frances' struggle to decide whether she is strong enough to weather the illness with him for the long term.
The novel is anchored by two deeply imagined, fully inhabited characters who give voice to a love story that is as emotionally powerful as it is intellectually spirited.
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The moment Joan Castleman decides to leave her husband, they are 35,000 feet above the ocean on a flight to Helsinki. Joan's husband, Joseph, is one of America's preeminent novelists, about to receive a prestigious international award, and Joan, who has spent 40 years subjugating her own literary talents to fan the flames of his career, has finally decided to stop.
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A bit of a downer
- By Jody Cox on 08-01-18
By: Meg Wolitzer
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Kokoro
- By: Natsume Soseki
- Narrated by: Matt Shea
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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The subject of Kokoro, which can be translated as 'the heart of things' or as 'feeling,' is the delicate matter of the contrast between the meanings the various parties of a relationship attach to it. In the course of this exploration, Soseki brilliantly describes different levels of friendship, family relationships, and the devices by which men attempt to escape from their fundamental loneliness. The novel sustains throughout its length something approaching poetry, and it is rich in understanding and insight.
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The Heart Of Things, Relationships & Feelings
- By Sara on 04-27-15
By: Natsume Soseki
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Saints for All Occasions
- A Novel
- By: J. Courtney Sullivan
- Narrated by: Susan Denaker
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Nora and Theresa Flynn are 21 and 17 when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan - a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand.
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The narration ruined it
- By Janis Reynolds on 06-12-17
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The Razor's Edge
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The Great War changed everything and everyone, and Larry Darrell is no exception. Though his physical wounds from the war heal, his spirit is changed almost beyond recognition. He leaves his betrothed, the beautiful and devoted Isabel; studies philosophy and religion in Paris; lives as a monk, and witnesses the exotic hardships of Spanish life. All of life that he can find - from an Indian Ashrama to labor in a coal mine - becomes Larry's spiritual experiment as he spurns the comfort and privilege of the Roaring 20s.
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An Classic of Love and the Desire for Meaning
- By Eric on 01-06-17
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The Bad Seed
- By: William March
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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There's something special about eight-year-old Rhoda Penmark. With her carefully plaited hair and her sweet cotton dresses, she's the very picture of old-fashioned innocence. But when their neighborhood suffers a series of terrible accidents, her mother begins to wonder: Why do bad things seem to happen when little Rhoda is around?
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loved it
- By CoCo B.M.J on 07-23-19
By: William March
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Shadow of a Century
- By: Jean Grainger
- Narrated by: Alana Kerr Collins
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Mary Doyle arrives in Dublin in 1913, doomed, she fears, to a life of domestic service. Instead, however, she finds herself deeply affected by the social and political turmoil of a fledgling nation struggling for independence. Suddenly, all that was once inevitable is no longer a certainty as she is embroiled in the very heart of the Easter Rising.
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Loved this book!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-14-20
By: Jean Grainger
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The Schooldays of Jesus
- By: J. M. Coetzee
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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David is the small boy who is always asking questions. Simon and Ines take care of him in their new town, Estrella. He is learning the language; he has begun to make friends. He has the big dog, Bolivar, to watch over him. But he'll be seven soon, and he should be at school. And so, with the guidance of the three sisters who own the farm where Simon and Ines work, David is enrolled in the Academy of Dance. It's here, in his new golden dancing slippers, that he learns how to call down the numbers from the sky.
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SEXUAL PERVERSION PRESENTED AS BRILLIANT
- By Amazon Customer on 09-29-18
By: J. M. Coetzee
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Of Human Bondage
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 28 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Of Human Bondage is one of the greatest novels of modern times, and it is certainly Maugham's greatest achievement. It was published in 1914, when Maugham was at the height of his creative powers. The story concerns Philip Carey, afflicted at birth with a club foot, and his passionate search for truth in a cruel world. We follow his growth to manhood, his educational progress, his first loves, and the wrenching tragedies and disappointments that life has in store for him. In some of the finest prose of the 20th century, Maugham has presented us with the timeless story of one man's search for the meaning of life.
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Greatly Unsettling
- By Michael on 10-04-14
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Gathering Blossoms Under Fire
- The Journals of Alice Walker
- By: Alice Walker, Valerie Boyd - editor
- Narrated by: Aunjanue Ellis, Alice Walker, Janina Edwards
- Length: 22 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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From National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Alice Walker and edited by critic and writer Valerie Boyd, comes an unprecedented compilation of Walker’s fifty years of journals drawing an intimate portrait of her development over five decades as an artist, human rights and women’s activist, and intellectual.
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A must-read for any creative artist!!
- By amazonluver on 04-30-22
By: Alice Walker, and others
What listeners say about Frances and Bernard
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- richard
- 04-29-15
Wonderful descriptive writing not found on Twitter
Where does Frances and Bernard rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
I was very much drawn into the story and I couldn't wait to find out what was going to become of their friendship. I loved the way they described situations to each other so vividly. Our email-twitter life doesn't afford such writing very often.
Any additional comments?
I appreciated how real to life the story seem. I loved how they shared philosophical discussions and dug deeply into the meaning of things.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kerry
- 01-18-15
Intriguing, surprising
I did not know when I listened that the book was somewhat based on the poet Robert Lowell and the writer Flannery O'Connor...but it also diverged quite a bit from their lives (O'Connor was certainly not a Philadelphian). I found the story-told-in-letters technique engaging and the story went in ways that I didn't expect. Very enjoyable.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jessica Smith
- 12-31-14
Enjoyed in a way I didn't expect.
I started this book to find another 84 Charing Cross Road. It wasn't but I liked it as well. The book is a series of letters, an absolutely charming way to tell a story. While the method lends itself to lighter topics, this story didn't avoid difficult subjects which I appreciated.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Margaret
- 03-16-13
Satisfying
I always enjoy stories told through a series of letters. This story and the characters were well developed through the letters between Frances and Bernard as well as letters to their friends. I was initially turned off by the frequent references to religion but their religious devotion, or lack thereof, became almost a 3rd character in the book. The author had so many pithy insights. I often wished for a pencil and paper so I could record them. And I cried at the end-something I rarely do with a recorded book.
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30 people found this helpful
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- deborah
- 12-09-14
slow starter but worth the wait
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
yes. It makes you ponder on some of the subjects they discuss and then makes you feel and even lets you have a good cry
What did you like best about this story?
it was unexpected
What does Angela Brazil and Stephen R. Thorne bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
I like the 2 narrators. It added so much more
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2 people found this helpful
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- Randi
- 02-03-15
Too much religion, unresolved feelings
I really wish there hadn't been so much focus on religion in this work. I understood why it was there but it made it difficult to relate to or to sympathize with the characters at certain times. I also feel the letters were so often untrustworthy narrators that the events that resulted were surprising in a bad way. An okay read, and worth the price I paid but not worth more.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Danielle M Shepard
- 06-01-23
Read like short stories
Treated this book more like a “podcast” than a true book. It ultimately was background noise. Really couldn’t get into it but did listen until the end.
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- Josie
- 05-05-15
Boring to me
Upper class intellectuals discussing religion. Yawn... The writing is lovely, but the subject matter was dull for me. I don't relate to being snobbish about writing and intellect.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Paul
- 01-03-15
Unremarkable
I hate to give such a tepid review to someone's hard labours but truly the story was just a story - unremarkable. I wanted to feel strongly for Bernard's handicap but somehow it just wasn't there.
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1 person found this helpful