The Chateau
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Narrated by:
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Karl Miller
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By:
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William Maxwell
About this listen
It is 1948 and a young American couple arrive in France for a holiday. It is their chance to immerse themselves in the culture and language, and they arrive full of anticipation and enthusiasm. But the countryside and people are war-battered and their reception at the Chateau Beaumesnil, where they begin their stay, is not all the open-hearted Americans could wish for. Every encounter leaves them with more questions. Why are they not welcomed as citizens of the nation that liberated Europe? What are the secrets in the family?
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An absolute delight of a debut novel by William Kuhn - author of Reading Jackie: Her Autobiography in Books - Mrs Queen Takes the Train wittily imagines the kerfuffle that transpires when a bored Queen Elizabeth strolls out of the palace in search of a little fun, leaving behind a desperate team of courtiers who must find the missing Windsor before a national scandal erupts.
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Can't believe how much I loved this story
- By analyzethis on 03-10-13
By: William Kuhn
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The Talented Mr. Ripley
- By: Patricia Highsmith
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In this first novel, we are introduced to suave, handsome Tom Ripley: a young striver, newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan in the 1950s. A product of a broken home, branded a "sissy" by his dismissive Aunt Dottie, Ripley becomes enamored of the moneyed world of his new friend, Dickie Greenleaf. This fondness turns obsessive when Ripley is sent to Italy to bring back his libertine pal, but he grows enraged by Dickie's ambivalent feelings for Marge, a charming American dilettante.
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Patricia, Phil, and Pathology
- By Mel on 04-24-13
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Half a Lifelong Romance
- A Novel
- By: Eileen Chang
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Manzhen is a young worker in a Shanghai factory where she meets Shijun, the son of wealthy merchants. Despite family complications, they fall in love and begin to dream of a shared life together - until circumstances force them apart. When they are reunited after many years, can they start their relationship again? Or is it destined to be the romance of only half a lifetime?
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super
- By Marcus Aurelius on 10-05-17
By: Eileen Chang
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The Gown
- A Novel of the Royal Wedding
- By: Jennifer Robson
- Narrated by: Marisa Calin
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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From the internationally best-selling author of Somewhere in France comes an enthralling historical novel about one of the most famous wedding dresses of the 20th century - Queen Elizabeth’s wedding gown - and the fascinating women who made it.
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Such a disappointment...
- By Cynthia in NoCO on 05-12-19
By: Jennifer Robson
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Clara Callan
- By: Richard B. Wright
- Narrated by: Anne Twomey, Joanna P. Adler
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Abridged
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Two sisters, small-town Ontario, 1934. Canadian author Richard Wright tells their story, from the ordinary to the extraoridinary with an eye for the commonplace and poignant sense of the larger undercurrents that change people's lives.
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charming intimate refreshing
- By L on 09-10-04
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Claude & Camille
- A Novel of Monet
- By: Stephanie Cowell
- Narrated by: Christopher Cazenove
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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In the mid-19th century, a young man named Claude Monet decided that he would rather endure a difficult life painting landscapes than take over his fathers nautical supplies business in a French seaside town. Against his fathers will, and with nothing but a dream and an insatiable urge to create a new style of art that repudiated the Classical Realism of the time, he set off for Paris.
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As a painter
- By janice hedwall on 03-08-16
By: Stephanie Cowell
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The Keys to the Street
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Mary Jago had donated her own bone marrow to save the life of someone she didn’t know. And this generous act led directly to the bitter break-up of her affair with Alistair. For him, it was as though her beauty had been plundered. But the man whose life she had saved would change Mary’s life in a way she could never have imagined.
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Mystery with humor and insight
- By Ida Hagman on 10-02-12
By: Ruth Rendell
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Celia's House
- By: D. E. Stevenson
- Narrated by: Lesley Mackie
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In name and by birth, Celia was a Dunne. She had inherited the beautiful old family home by the Rydd Water – but was she bound to live her life by the principles of her predecessors? Was there some hidden restraint that compelled her to heed the past? Celia’s house is a moving and poignant story of the struggle between old and young: the older generation anxious to preserve the values they have helped create while their children are determined at all costs to make lives of their own.
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Boarder area of Scotland
- By Jerri C on 03-14-11
By: D. E. Stevenson
What listeners say about The Chateau
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Mordechai Markus Blum
- 02-06-12
Uninteresting story told in the most perfect way
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes. The book is beautifully written.
How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?
Make the story somewhat more interesting.
Which scene was your favorite?
The train ride to Paris.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
No.
Any additional comments?
No.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Atlanta shopper
- 11-18-21
My least favorite from Maxwell
I’m no scholar, but in my opinion, this was way way too long. Perhaps it would have been a good novela. Compared to his other excellent works, this should be at the end of your Maxwell reading list.
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- Pamela
- 11-06-21
Subtle story
This was a slow, subtle story. I’m glad I listened as I was very interested in William Maxwell, but it was oddly paced. There were some very funny moments, but they were oddly spaced, although I loved it when he spoke for the inanimate objects (a clock, for instance) or a creature in nature (a bird). The ending was a surprise, quite funny and charming, when the omniscient narrator did a sort of Q&A with the reader, filling in all the mysteries about various characters. But I groaned every time the narrator launched into his heavily accented English to indicate the French characters speaking their native language, it was so painfully difficult to understand. I would not have “heard” it that way if I read it to myself. Yet his voicing of Harold was spot on.
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- John S.
- 12-07-11
Excellent choice!
Without rehashing the plot, it's an exposition of how an young American couple becomes involved with an extended French family (and other guests) at the chateau, with those relationships largely carried over to their subsequent time in Paris. Loose ends are dealt with via an epilogue format I found ... odd, but it worked, for the most part. The characters are all well differentiated, none of them stock. Overall, a good snapshot of a place and time.
Karl Miller does a great job as narrator, especially with the principal voice of Harold, who could've come off as dopey, or priggish, at times with the wrong reader.
I found this one a great use of a credit.
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2 people found this helpful
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- BK
- 05-30-15
The Chateau, by William Maxwell
Has The Chateau turned you off from other books in this genre?
No
What didn’t you like about Karl Miller’s performance?
Odd hesitations in all the dialog, mispronounced French words
Any additional comments?
I enjoyed listening to this -- it was soothing and managed to hold my interest somehow even though almost nothing actually happens. It is about a young American couple moving around France as tourists during the years right after World War II, wondering about the oddities of the characters they meet and cultural differences that often baffle them. If you love France and/or William Maxwell, all this will be of interest, but be warned that the story amasses small mysteries which, just as in life, are only explained by conjecture. Because I love this author and his other books, I was willing to accept this but could certainly sympathize with any reader who finds it frustrating. This is not Maxwell's best book by a long shot (try TIME WILL DARKEN IT or THE FOLDED LEAF), but his wonderful voice is fully present. I was less pleased with the reading performance. To my ear, the French accents sounded labored, and I know that many of the words were mispronounced. It should have been possible to find a bilingual reader for this work!
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