The Death of the Heart
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Narrated by:
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Pearl Hewitt
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By:
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Elizabeth Bowen
About this listen
The Death of the Heart is perhaps Elizabeth Bowen's best-known book. As she deftly and delicately exposes the cruelty that lurks behind the polished surfaces of conventional society, Bowen reveals herself as a masterful novelist who combines a sense of humor with a devastating gift for divining human motivations.
In this piercing story of innocence betrayed set in the 30s, the orphaned Portia is stranded in the sophisticated and politely treacherous world of her wealthy half-brother's home in London. There she encounters the attractive, carefree cad Eddie. To him, Portia is at once child and woman, and her fears her gushing love. To her, Eddie is the only reason to be alive. But when Eddie follows Portia to a sea-side resort, the flash of a cigarette lighter in a darkened cinema illuminates a stunning romantic betrayal - and sets in motion one of the most moving and desperate flights of the heart in modern literature.
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- By Amazon Customer on 08-05-17
By: Sigrid Undset
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The Complete Mapp and Lucia, Volume 1
- By: E. F. Benson
- Narrated by: Georgina Sutton
- Length: 26 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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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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I Capture the Castle
- By: Dodie Smith
- Narrated by: Jenny Agutter
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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In this coming of age story, Dodie Smith introduces the visionary and eccentric character of seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain. The youngest daughter in a family of impoverished artists, it is her imagination and writing that takes us away from the ramshackle old English castle where they live, and towards an intriguing tale of husband-hunting and light-hearted sibling rivalry.
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Well, that was a surprise
- By Matthew on 12-16-13
By: Dodie Smith
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Something New
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: B.J. Harrison
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Here, we have a glorious ensemble of Woodhousian characters knocking elbows to foreheads in the elegant and grand Blandings Castle. Meet Freddy Threepwood, the vagrant son of doddering old Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle. Freddy has recently become engaged to Aline Peters, the American heiress of an irascible father. The snag is that Freddy seems to have at one point become enamored of a struggling actress, Joan Valentine, and written some impetuous and imprudent letters to her.
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Same book as Something Fresh
- By customer on 03-07-15
By: P. G. Wodehouse
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Lucy Gayheart
- By: Willa Cather
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 5 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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At the age of eighteen, Lucy Gayheart heads for Chicago to study music. She is beautiful and impressionable and ardent, and these qualities attract the attention of Clement Sebastian, an aging but charismatic singer who exercises all the tragic, sinister fascination of a man who has renounced life only to turn back to seize it one last time. Out of their doomed love affair—and Lucy's fatal estrangement from her origins—Willa Cather creates a novel that is as achingly lovely as a Schubert sonata.
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Beautifully written and narrated!
- By melany levenson on 05-27-24
By: Willa Cather
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Father
- By: Elizabeth Von Arnim
- Narrated by: Penelope Freeman
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Since her mother's death, Jennifer has devoted years of her life to her father, managing the family home. After the sudden announcement that he has taken a new wife, Jennifer, at 33, seizes the opportunity to lead an independent life. Quickly she secures the lease of Rose Cottage and turns her attention to her own interests. While Jennifer is desperate to experience life on her own terms within her reduced financial means, her neighbour, Alice, is pre-occupied with ensuring her position as head of her brother's household is never challenged.
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Worse Audio Book I Have Ever Heard
- By Phyllis Woodford on 11-05-21
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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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Tender Is the Night
- By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Set on the French Riviera in the late 1920s, Tender Is the Night is the tragic romance of the young actress Rosemary Hoyt and the stylish American couple Dick and Nicole Diver. A brilliant young psychiatrist at the time of his marriage, Dick is both husband and doctor to Nicole, whose wealth goads him into a lifestyle not his own, and whose growing strength highlights Dick's harrowing demise. A profound study of the romantic concept of character - lyrical, expansive, and hauntingly evocative.
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Subtle yet grand
- By jb on 10-12-15
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Cold Hand in Mine
- By: Robert Aickman
- Narrated by: Reece Shearsmith
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Cold Hand in Mine stands as one of Aickman's best collections and contains eight stories that show off his powers as a 'strange story' writer to the full. The listener is introduced to a variety of characters, from a man who spends the night in a Hospice to a German aristocrat and a woman who sees an image of her own soul. There is also a nod to the conventional vampire story ("Pages from a Young Girl's Journal") but all the stories remain unconventional and inconclusive, which perhaps makes them all the more startling and intriguing.
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Aickman is unique
- By Stark on 08-19-23
By: Robert Aickman
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David Strorm's father doesn't approve of Angus Morton's unusually large horses, calling them blasphemies against nature. Little does he realise that his own son, his niece Rosalind and their friends have their own secret aberration that would label them as mutants. But as David and Rosalind grow older it becomes more difficult to conceal their differences from the village elders. Soon they face a choice: wait for eventual discovery or flee to the terrifying and mutable Badland....
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What listeners say about The Death of the Heart
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Nena Mirkovic
- 06-01-24
The reader was soo good
The novel is a bit slow to develop and ends without a conclusion. The lady who was reading was phenomenal - finding a different voice for each character.
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- Kindle Customer
- 11-07-23
Phenomenal
I am very picky at this book met all my requirements for a great listen. Highly recommended for those who enjoy intricate character study.
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- LRWord
- 02-27-23
Beautifully Crafted Story
This novel examines the way delicate, sincere emotions are crushed by the weight of social convention and conformity. The setting is London in the late 1930s. It will take 21st century readers a little while to catch onto, but it's not too difficult. The characters use the technology of the day to communicate--the telephone and letters. A handwritten diary causes a good deal of embarrassment and anger, but is that so different from the distress caused by social media postings today?
Whose heart died in this novel? Was it just one heart? How and when can people live out the truth of their lives when society is ready to run right over them? Is it possible to live a satisfying life while putting the demands of society first and ignoring inner passion?
Readers who enjoy observing the complexities of ordinary life will find this novel especially satisfying.
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1 person found this helpful
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- marisa l.
- 08-22-23
Great book for audible
I have read this book a few times and was so glad to find it on audible. I first read it in the mid 1980s. The story could be upgraded for a modern series adaptation. I wish someone would do that. As time goes by i think the story is as timeless as Hamlet. I like the narrator. Her voice fits the mood and as an American i find her accent perfectly reasonable even though other British accents fatigue me.
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- R. Decker
- 10-18-22
Superbly listenable classic
In the first few seconds I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy the narrator’s performance, but quickly this turned out to be the most listenable, for long stretches, book I’ve purchased so far on Audible.
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1 person found this helpful
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- David C.
- 09-01-23
Mama's Don't Let Your Orphans Grow Up To Be Portia
Mama's Don't Let Your Orphans Grow Up To Be Portia
It may not be fault of #elizabethbowen or any other "British" author of England's years in decline but everytime I read a novel about #upperclass British people and their insufferable and excruciating nature, particularly the embarrassing lengths they go to not suffer embarrassment I can't help wonder how the #unitedkingdom accumulated global empire status. Young British people, particularly those who perceive themselves to be of the creme de la creme, are simply the most unattractive human beings unworthy of the countless novels written about them and #thedeathoftheheart is no exception.
As with many of this ilk, my only reason for reading this book was its placement on the. #modernlibrarytop100novels and, quite frankly, I don't know why it warranted inclusion. I wanted to be sympathetic to #portiaquayne , the illegitimate product of the Union between a country squire and the help who raised the girl bouncing around hotels of Europe. By sixteen, Portia has lost both parents, particularly her mother who seemed to not have passed on any wisdom whatsoever to her child. Upon orphaning, Portia finds herself in London living with her older half brother and wife who are just terrible and insufferable surrounded by friends who are equally nauseating. Portia's naivety and penchant for dairying her thoughts that become the amusement of her sister-in-law and their nasty friends makes this entire novel both tedious and nauseating.
Fortunately, I relied on #audible as my literary resource because, if I had to sit and read this book, I might not have gotten through it. But I did and this sample of Bowen's work doesn't intrigue me in the slightest to read more. #readtheworld #globalreadingchallenge #readtheworldchallenge #englishnovel
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- MartinS
- 09-28-22
Terrible narration
Every syllable is crisply and clearly articulated, but it's almost impossible to tell if a character is speaking or if it's meant to be text. The reader also provides almost no variation between characters, and that variation fades by the 5th word, making it very difficult to follow who is saying what to whom. The reader's delivery is done via metronome, with almost no variation in the pace. Together, these attributes make the reading very flat. The narration is also perverse. If the book directs that a character speaks with surprise or makes an exclamation, the narrator breaks in to a sort of whisper. When a character is described as speaking defensively, the narrator goes deadpan. Whatever the writer's direction, the reader does something quite in the opposite direction. Because the reading is so monotone, yes crisp and clear, but with so little variation, it is almost impossible to follow what the writer was trying to convey. I gave up after 3 hours.
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- Lori M
- 07-02-22
Where's the plot?
I kept waiting for this story to go somewhere. Did not make it through.
There seemed to be no plot.
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- Lofty
- 11-17-23
not good
l bought this because a writer I respect recommended it. But like other readers I find the novel unreadable. The characters and plot are trite. The author's musings on The Meaning of Life usually ring false to me, and at these moments she sounds arrogant and condescending. Her metaphors are usually equally forced. I had to give up on it.
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