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No Fond Return of Love
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Mary Sarah
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
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Publisher's summary
Three lonely people come together in this poignant, witty novel of star-crossed romance from the New York Times best-selling author of Jane and Prudence.
After being jilted by her fiance, Dulcie Mainwaring despairs of ever finding true love. For a distraction, she goes to a publishing conference, where she meets Viola Dace, a dramatic woman who refuses to live without romance, as well as Aylwin Forbes, an editor whom Viola adores.
The fact that Aylwin is married doesn't stop Viola. When her amorous pursuit prompts Aylwin's wife to leave him, the academic heartthrob is wide open to Viola's romantic attentions. That is, until Dulcie's 18-year-old niece moves in with Viola, and the young girl soon catches Aylwin's roving eye.
Set in London in the early 1960s, No Fond Return of Love is a delightful comedy of manners that comes full circle as Dulcie discovers a love as unexpected as it is liberating.
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Sharply observant and wickedly funny, E.F. Benson's six Mapp and Lucia novels satirize the upper-middle-class social climbers in 1920s and '30s rural England. Games of bridge and cups of tea fuel hilarious gossip and vindictive plots a-plenty. It is a masterfully sustained spotlight on the minutiae of village life - a clever and ultimately heart-warming series that seems tailor-made for audio. Volume 1 contains the first three books.
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At last!
- By Grace M-T on 06-15-21
By: E. F. Benson
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44 Scotland Street
- By: Alexander McCall Smith
- Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The brilliant Alexander McCall Smith became an international sensation with his New York Times best-selling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels. His award-winning wit, made famous through that series, is fully on display in 44 Scotland Street.
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Smith's answer to Maupin
- By Amazon Customer on 10-23-05
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The Diary of a Provincial Lady
- By: E. M. Delafield
- Narrated by: Georgina Sutton
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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'Lady B. stays to tea. (Mem.: Bread-and-butter too thick. Speak to Ethel.) We talk some more about bulbs, the Dutch School of Painting, our Vicar's wife, sciatica, and All Quiet on the Western Front. (Query: is it possible to cultivate the art of conversation when living in the country all the year round?)' If the question suggests a qualified answer, there is no doubt that the art of diary writing is alive and well and very, very funny in Devonshire in the 1920s. At least in the hands of E. M. Delafield.
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Pleasant and witty
- By Debbie Kirk on 10-09-18
By: E. M. Delafield
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Servants' Hall
- A Real Life Upstairs, Downstairs Romance
- By: Margaret Powell
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Margaret Powell's Below Stairs became a sensation among listeners reveling in the luxury and subtle class warfare of Masterpiece Theatre's hit television series Downton Abbey. Now in the sequel Servants' Hall, Powell tells the true story of Rose, the under-parlourmaid to the Wardham Family at Redlands, who took a shocking step: She eloped with the family's only son, Mr. Gerald.
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Memoir of a Bygone Era
- By Michelle N. Lynch on 04-08-15
By: Margaret Powell
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The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding
- By: Agatha Christie
- Narrated by: Charles Armstrong
- Length: 1 hr and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In this short story, Hercule Poirot is asked to attend a Christmas celebration in order to apprehend a jewel thief who has taken advantage of an unwary Eastern prince.
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I Great story and plot.
- By SARALEE SAENZ on 12-01-21
By: Agatha Christie
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The Diary of a Nobody
- By: George Grossmith, Weedon Grossmith
- Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The Diary of Nobody (1892) created a cultural icon, an English archetype. Anxious, accident-prone, occasionally waspish, Charles Pooter has come to epitomize English suburban life. His diary chronicles encounters with difficult tradesmen, the delights of home improvements, small parties, minor embarrassments, and problems with his troublesome son. The suburban world he inhabits is hilariously and painfully familiar in its small-mindedness and its essential decency.
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Hilarious and Suprebly Read
- By Virginia Waldron on 10-15-08
By: George Grossmith, and others
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Aunt Crete's Emancipation
- By: Grace Livingston Hill
- Narrated by: Anne Hancock
- Length: 2 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Aunt Crete has spent a lifetime of toil catering to the needs of her family, especially her waspish sister, Carrie, and social-climbing niece, Louella. When a telegram from a nephew from out west announces his imminent arrival, mother and daughter hasten a trip to the shore to escape the "country cousin" who they are sure will shame them.
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Cute Story with a Great Moral
- By Stephanie Aguilar on 08-03-16
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Cloudy Jewel
- By: Grace Livingston Hill
- Narrated by: Paula Faye Leinweber
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Julia Cloud had a gentle, caring spirit, devoting her life to her Lord Jesus and caring for others, including her invalid mother. After her mother's death she was faced with a bleak life of poverty until an unexpected visit from her wealthy niece and nephew completely changed her life. They were off to college and wanted "Cloudy Jewel", their childhood nickname for Julia, to come and be their mother and chaperone. Thus started a new adventure for all three, full of love and happiness.
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Beautiful Book about Faith and Homemaking
- By Clarinetgal on 06-11-19
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The Love Note
- By: Tracy Rees
- Narrated by: Jasmine Blackborow
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Perfect for fans of The Keeper of Lost Things and The Villa in Italy. Blue lives a charmed life. From her family's townhouse in Richmond, she lives a life of luxury and couldn't want for anything - well, on the surface at least. Then, on the night of her 21st birthday, her father makes a startling toast: he will give his daughter's hand to whichever man can capture her heart best in the form of a love letter. But Blue has other ideas, and, unwilling to play at her father's bewildering games, she sets out on her own path to find her own destiny....
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The Love Note❣️
- By Leslie Gail Mnich on 10-25-20
By: Tracy Rees
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The War Nurses: A Moving Wartime Romance Saga Full of Heart
- The War Nurses Series
- By: Lizzie Page
- Narrated by: Marian Hussey
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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You will love every moment of this absolutely brilliant wartime saga, perfect for fans of Diney Costeloe, Soraya M. Lane, and Nadine Dorries. As war takes its toll, the love and care of two brave young nurses become everything to the wounded soldiers they tend... 1914. Two plucky young nurses pledge to help the war effort: Mairi, a wholesome idealist hoping to leave behind her past and Elsie, a glamorous single mother with a weakness for handsome soldiers. Despite their differences, the pair become firm friends.
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I really really wanted to like this book...
- By Teresa M. Thornborough on 09-26-19
By: Lizzie Page
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Jeeves & Wooster: The Collected Radio Dramas
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: full cast, Michael Hordern, Richard Briers
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Original Recording
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A rollicking collection of six acclaimed dramatisations of P.G Wodehouse's Jeeves & Wooster novels, starring Michael Hordern and Richard Briers as Jeeves and Wooster. Also featuring Maurice Denham, Paul Eddington, David Jason, John Le Mesurier, Miriam Margolyes, Jonathan Cecil, Liza Goddard and Patrick Cargill.
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tracks out of order
- By Justin Sluyter on 06-02-19
By: P. G. Wodehouse
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What listeners say about No Fond Return of Love
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Penny G.
- 08-01-20
Please get a different narrator
Such a disappointment to listen to the same narrator as the narrator of Less Than Angels by Barbara Pym.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Holly
- 06-22-20
Delightful English novel of manners and life
Long my favorite Barbara Pym..though Some Tame Gazelle may be tied...I cannot overstate how rich, delightful, insightful and absorbing this deceptively simple tale is. I love it madly! I adore Dulcie and her observations on the rest of the world and herself--both mild and disarmingly straight forward. ALL of the supporting cast (as with every Pym novel) is stunningly well depicted with minimal but perfectly selected words through behavior even more than description, in very small but extremely memorable scenes. Pym is a genius and I feel this book best exemplifies it.
And...just a super fun read!
Now...I am spoiled by years of listening to my Chivers Audio recording on cassette. I am so delighted to finally have this from Audible. But, though the new narrator is very pleasant indeed, Angela Pleasance gave perfect voice to all the odd and eccentric supporting cast in the book. This is especially true of whiny Viola Dace, gruff and indignant Grace Willington, odd Mrs. Beltane, and the very eccentric Mrs. Forbes, plus so very many more. I missed how Angela Pleasance voiced them so very much. The new narrator is very pleasant, but it is like having your mother read Harry Potter after hearing Jim Dale read it. And the chapter announcements...are meant to be quite comical? Or almost as if she is bored reading! At any rate, I have grown tolerant, on re-listening. The overall book, nothing can mar its exquisite writing.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Susan Brown
- 10-04-20
Barbara Pym deserves better
Barbara Pym is my favorite author, and I was thrilled to see so many of her books finally available on Audible. I read the reviews about the dreadful narrator, but I thought how bad could it be? It’s painfully bad. I’m not English, but I’ve visited the U.K. and watch a lot of British TV. I don’t know what this accent is, but it’s deeply annoying. The reading is also bothersome in that the emphasis is often on the wrong word. Do yourself a favor and buy the book! It’s a gem. This audiobook version is appalling. The only comparison I can make is that of the Disney read-along books of my childhood when you turned the page when “Tinkerbell rings her little bell like this!”
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5 people found this helpful
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- Sammicatcat
- 11-06-21
Terrible narrator
This book is one of my favorite novels but the narrator had a breathy lilting affected way of speaking that destroyed my pleasure in this book. I don't know that it's her fault; perhaps the studio director told her to talk that way. Julia Whelan is perfectly suited to narrate Pym's books, why not her Audible?
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3 people found this helpful
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- Mary DeForest
- 10-30-21
Great book awful reader
This is one of my favorite books, and the reader hurts my ears, particularly the sugary tone with which she announces each chapter.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-25-21
Painful narrator
I loved the story and writing Is excellent in general, although hated the ending . The male interest/character is an Ephebophilia which is disgusting and makes for an un-likable love interest. But the worst is the ridiculous narration. Hard to understand and just so put on... what accent is she even trying to achieve. Such potential for a good read...ended up total waste of tune and stressful to listen to.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-24-20
Narration fails Barbara Pym’s story and wit
Very disappointed. I’m not sure the narrator understands the humor and irony in B Pym’s writing.
If she does, it doesn’t come through. The voice doesn’t match the main character’s Dulcie’s personality. She does a bit better with the other characters. Affected and distracting. I couldn’t finish.
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8 people found this helpful