Tightrope
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Narrated by:
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Kate Reading
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By:
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Simon Mawer
About this listen
This captivating historical thriller brings back Marian Sutro, ex-special operations agent, and traces her romantic and political exploits in post-World War II London, where the Cold War is about to reshape old loyalties.
As Allied forces close in on Berlin in spring 1945, a solitary figure emerges from the wreckage that is Germany. It is Marian Sutro, whose existence was last known to her British controllers in autumn 1943 in Paris. One of a handful of surviving agents of the Special Operations Executive, she has withstood arrest, interrogation, incarceration, and the horrors of Ravensbruck concentration camp, but at what cost? Returned to an England she barely knows and a postwar world she doesn't understand, Marian searches for something on which to ground the rest of her life. Family and friends surround her, but she is haunted by her experiences and by the guilt of knowing that her contribution to the war effort helped lead to the monstrosities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When the mysterious Major Fawley, the man who hijacked her wartime mission to Paris, emerges from the shadows to draw her into the ambiguities and uncertainties of the Cold War, she sees a way to make amends for the past and at the same time to find the identity that has never been hers.
A novel of divided loyalties and mixed motives, Tightrope is the complex and enigmatic story of a woman whose search for personal identity and fulfillment leads her to shocking choices.
©2015 Simon Mawer (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Into Keldale's pastoral web of old houses and older secrets comes Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton. Along with the redoubtable Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, Lynley has been sent to solve a savage murder that has stunned the peaceful countryside. For fat, unlovely Roberta Teys has been found in her best dress, an ax in her lap, seated in the old stone barn beside her father's headless corpse. Her first and last words were "I did it. And I'm not sorry".
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good debut novel
- By Stevon on 11-11-19
By: Elizabeth George
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The Ambassador's Daughter
- By: Pam Jenoff
- Narrated by: Joanna Daniel
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Brought to the peace conference by her father, a German diplomat, Margot Rosenthal initially resents being trapped in the congested French capital, where she is still looked upon as the enemy. But as she contemplates returning to Berlin and a life with Stefan, the wounded fiancé she hardly knows anymore, she decides that being in Paris is not so bad after all. Bored and torn between duty and the desire to be free, Margot strikes up unlikely alliances: with Krysia, an accomplished musician with radical acquaintances and a secret to protect; and with Georg, the handsome, damaged naval officer who gives Margot a job.
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Book 0 in the series
- By Stevon on 12-12-17
By: Pam Jenoff
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Daughters of Eden
- By: Charlotte Bingham
- Narrated by: Kim Hicks
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Daughters of Eden focuses on the lives and fortunes of four very different young women at the outbreak of the Second World War. Marjorie, left at a boarding school by her emigrating mother; plain Poppy, pushed into marriage with a mean-spirited aristocrat; Kate, despised by her father, but determined to prove herself; and man-mad Lily, who turns out to be the bravest of them all. That all of them are chosen to work undercover for the espionage unit at Eden Park is a surprise, not least to them.
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An amazing book everyone should read.
- By XX on 09-11-05
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Three Daughters of Eve
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Alix Dunmore
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Set across Istanbul and Oxford, from the 1980s to the present day, Three Daughters of Eve is a sweeping tale of faith and friendship, tradition and modernity, love and an unexpected betrayal. Peri, a wealthy Turkish housewife and mother, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground - an old polaroid of three young women and their university professor.
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Review 3 daughters of Eve
- By CA on 04-28-18
By: Elif Shafak
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The Unlikely Spy
- By: Daniel Silva
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 18 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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“In wartime,” Winston Churchill wrote, “truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” For Britain’s counterintelligence operations, this meant finding the unlikeliest agent imaginable - a history professor named Alfred Vicary, handpicked by Churchill himself to expose a highly dangerous, but unknown, traitor. The Nazis, however, have also chosen an unlikely agent.
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The Unlikely Spy
- By Margaret on 12-14-09
By: Daniel Silva
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The Good Liar
- A Novel
- By: Nicholas Searle
- Narrated by: Matthew Brenher
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Veteran con artist Roy spots an obvious easy mark when he meets Betty, a wealthy widow, online. In no time at all, he's moved into Betty's lovely cottage and is preparing to accompany her on a romantic trip to Europe. Betty's grandson disapproves of their blossoming relationship, but Roy is sure this scheme will be a success. He knows what he's doing. As this remarkable feat of storytelling weaves together Roy's and Betty's futures, it also unwinds their pasts.
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Hope the movie is better than the book?
- By S. Smith on 10-17-19
By: Nicholas Searle
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Asylum
- By: Patrick McGrath
- Narrated by: Sir Ian McKellen
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 1959 Stella Raphael joins her psychiatrist husband, Max, at his new posting - a maximum-security hospital for the criminally insane. Stella soon falls under the spell of Edgar Stark, a brilliant sculptor who has been confined to the hospital for murdering his wife in a psychotic rage. But Stella's knowledge of Edgar's crime is no hindrance to the volcanic attraction that ensues -a passion that will consume Stella's sanity and destroy her and the lives of those around her.
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So enjoyed this book!
- By Mebythesea on 10-07-08
By: Patrick McGrath
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Hornet Flight
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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It's June 1941, and the low point of the war. England throws wave after wave of RAF bombers across the Channel, but somehow the Luftwaffe is able to shoot them down at will. The skies, indeed, the war itself seem to belong to Hitler.
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An Outstanding Spy Novel
- By C. McCoy on 03-13-05
By: Ken Follett
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A Narrow Door
- By: Joanne Harris
- Narrated by: Alex Kingston, Steven Pacey
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. Barely 40, she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. And with it, the remains of a body are discovered.
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Optional heading
- By TanyaB on 01-17-22
By: Joanne Harris
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Duet
- By: Kimberley Freeman
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 19 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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From the London pop scene, to the opera stages of Europe; from a tiny Greek island, to a stifling manor house full of secrets and deceptions; from the sun-drenched Queensland coast, to the silent outback; Angela and Ellie are two women both looking for something. One in search of her identity and her memory; the other in search of the love that she had and lost; theirs is a duet whose last note will not be sung until the heart-stopping climax, when a shadow from the past returns to claim them both.
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Gosh that was a great story!
- By Anonymous User on 06-10-09
What listeners say about Tightrope
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ruth
- 11-17-20
Hard to follow
I found it really hard to follow and at times it was very tough to figure out which character was narrating.
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- Stephanie Peña
- 05-22-21
Well-written and thought-provoking
I think this would be a great book for a book group. I’ll be thinking about this story for a bit and would love to debrief with someone about it.
It is a sequel to Simon Mawer’s book Trapeze, but the story is told through the as the account by another character in the story.
Mawer does an impressive job with his descriptions—Maybe even a little too good for me at times. Also, I think the choice of telling Marianne’s story through the limited perspective of another character is interesting as well. At times, when I grew increasingly disgusted by her character, I wished the narrative was being told first hand so that I would have had direct access to her thoughts and might have felt more sympathy towards her. The narrator was besotted by Marianne, so his perspective is suspect. The plot kept my interest, though, and I’ll be mulling it all the over for some time. Her choice to become a secret agent as a young adult had long-reaching consequences. Is her resulting life to be vilified or pitied? Or some combination? And how can this contradictory perspective be applied today?
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kamalei
- 01-09-22
Too much sexual content
What was the story about again? I am on chapter 49, which is giving lots of grace to when this will pick up. Too much sexual content and what’s the story again? Boring.
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- Mr. G.
- 02-09-17
Repetitive - A sequel that should stand alone.
This novel is #2 (Trapeze introduces us to Marian and her exciting lifestyle)
It was ok - even though I wasn't exactly thrilled by Tightrope, it was still an ok novel that explorers some pretty deep and dark themes. my problem - I guess - was that I was expecting a novel similar in theme to the first. A little action, a little intrigue, suspense and fun spy knowledge and terminology. instead of all of that, I listened to a story that was wholly character driven with a slow plot lacking true suspense.
Passages in this novel were quite repetitive - on more than one ocassion, I think the author used "copy + paste" because characters would describe an event or person word for word from just a few chapters prior. it doesn't seem like a big deal, but trust me, it happens enough to make you almost want to roll your eyes.
I had a hard time liking (or connecting) or even admiring any character in this one - which is different from the first. Marian went from a somewhat aloof but still passionate patriot that was willing to do whatever it takes (admirable courage/dedication) to a actual unlikable/acidic with somewhat unbelievable lifestyle choices. I never worried for her - I didn't care what was happening to her as she turned into a self serving disenchanted has been. She was bitter about who she was and who she becomes.
Not my favorite and it wasn't the type of novel I was looking for or expecting considering it was a sequel.
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- diane daniels manning
- 03-27-16
Intrigue
Interesting flawed heroine. A story with lots of questions wrapped up in the end but not too neatly.
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- Sima
- 11-19-21
Gripping
Captivating story. Performance is good, but different character voices are too similar. Overall a good read.
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- Cary
- 07-02-19
Marvelous!
A perfect marriage of plot, character and prose. Kate Redding's vocalisation is suitably sensational. Bravo!
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- bgrant
- 11-04-22
Brilliant character study yet must read 1st book
Those who have written bad reviews probably did not read the first book in this series or don't know French. Also, if you are a francophone, francophile, or WWII historian, these books will be a special treat and add appreciation both to the writing and excellent narration. I was fascinated with the character of Marianne Soutro and hated to have her story end. Finally, I can't believe how many uptight prudish ladies out there that have left comments saying how they were offended by sex Scenes! Really!
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- ProfLSW
- 02-09-19
Not as compelling as Trapeze
The story is very bland. Marian is navigating post-war and post-traumatic stress by walking a tightrope between middle class-marriage, espionage and counter espionage. But her independence and expertise are blurred by her sex drive and affairs that seem to ward off the post war traumas and lackluster civilian life. In the end, the author walks a tightrope between writing a spy novel and/or a sex-driven psychodrama. Disappointed.
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- saborbuddy
- 05-24-21
Wonderful second book
This was a wonderful sequel to her first book trapeze. Very interesting and intriguing if you enjoy WWII stories about woman a must listen
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