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The Glassblower of Murano
- Narrated by: Cristian Solimeno, Kate Magowan
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
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Publisher's Summary
A wonderful combination of mystery, historical intrigue, and love, written by an English/Venetian author, which tells a story of passion, genius and betrayal linking the present and the past.
Nora Manin decides to leave her fractured life in London to start again in Venice, and there begins to unravel the story of her ancestor, Corradino Manin, the greatest artist of glass that the island of Murano ever produced.
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What listeners say about The Glassblower of Murano
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- S
- 03-15-10
This is why we love historical fiction...
A gorgeous and decadent listen. One reviewer wrote that it was "operatically overblown", and I can only raise one eyebrow to this reviewer who has surely never been to Venice. Certainly the writer would have been helped by a sharper editor and perhaps a thesaurus (a few too many "peerless smiles" and offers of "respite" escaped the editor's pencil), although repetition was used elsewhere to great effect in weaving the stories of past and present together. So beautifully done that you can easily forgive a bit of contrivance here and there. I loved it and enjoyed floating in and out of old and new Venice. Kudos to the narrators, well chosen, whose performance added much to the experience. Great summer/holiday/treat read, well worth the credit. Recommended!
10 people found this helpful
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- Janet
- 06-08-16
Great book not so great production
I loved the book, the characters were memorable and the descriptions of Venice beautiful, but what producer would play music at least ten times louder than the voice level of the actors. I would be reading quietly at night and deep into the story then music would blare out loudly. Very off putting. Will definitely read this author again only if with a different audio producer.
7 people found this helpful
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- Beth
- 11-25-12
Great Story and Narration!!
One of those listens that is hard to put down. The characters were believable. The story was interesting. And the narrators were spot on. The descriptions of the glassblowing were of such that you could almost convince yourself you actually saw it!!
The only thing I didn't like about the audio was the instrumental between chapters. The instrumental wasn't bad but the volume was, irritatingly, louder than the narration.
6 people found this helpful
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- John Storbeck
- 04-07-15
Enjoyable
I am a Glassblower -Marina captured the essence of the 'feeling' of the Crystal.
Hated the Muzak between the chapters!
5 people found this helpful
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Overall
- J. Palmer
- 08-14-10
Too quiet
This was a decent story but the readers used very quiet voices in order to mimic the style of the author and this made it very difficult to hear. I have been an Audible customer for more than seven years and never written a review. In this case, though, I felt like it was important for others who like to read while they do other things (like dishes) that they wouldn't be able to hear the readers.
10 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-25-18
Beware loud music!
I really enjoyed this story, but the sound balance is way off. At a comfortable listening level for the dialogue, the music at the beginning/end of the chapters blasted my ears!
4 people found this helpful
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- Jen
- 02-24-17
crappy sound editing, horrible squalling music
readers were good, but music at 8x volume was painful. difficult to differenciate time periods.
3 people found this helpful
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- Jenifer
- 11-22-11
Captivating
This story had romance, mystery, history, art, and the setting was in Italy. What more could you want.
2 people found this helpful
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- Kirk A Mann
- 04-01-22
Enjoyable HF
Loved The Venetians Bargain!!! This story was very good with loud music in between chapters, disruptive.
1 person found this helpful
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- Healthcare4all!
- 02-16-21
Ahhh....sweet. memories!
I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Venice, not once, but twice. It really is a magical place and captivated me, utterly and completely. It was a pleasure for me to hear the names of churches, piazzas and landmarks spoken. This book is not complicated or wrought with twists and turns. No. This book is simply an uncomplicated delight to listen to. And now, in a time with such political upheaval and the world still reeling from a pandemic, uncomplicated and delightful.....these are good things.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall

- Ligs
- 02-26-11
Will not keep you awake at night
I found that the story itself was quite interesting, but found the narration and the writing rather simplified and not very sophisticated for my taste for such an historical topic such as Venice, Murano and the Doges palace. For me, the male narrators mild English regional accent, modern style and tone struck me as slightly bizarre, bearing in mind that he was talking about Italians in the 1500's, although the style in which the novel is written partially forced this I think. He does put on an Italian accent for the characterizations. Very light listening, will not keep you awake at night.
2 people found this helpful
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- Claire
- 01-07-15
Average at best
a passable novel but the music and male narrator are very irritating. I wouldn't recommend it.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall

- CMoon
- 12-12-09
Carmels Review
I really enjoyed this book. Loved Vennis, the parallel stories in different centuries and the glass!
1 person found this helpful
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- akhilton
- 10-24-15
Great storytelling, not sure about the music?
Would you consider the audio edition of The Glassblower of Murano to be better than the print version?
I haven't read the book
What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)
The final chapter is actually very good, everything comes together.
Which scene did you most enjoy?
I'd find this hard to choose. I really liked how the story goes back and forth in time.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I listen to audio books as a way to get to sleep using 15 minute bursts to help me unwind. I regularly listened to more of this one though because the story was so involved.
Any additional comments?
I really enjoyed this book overall. The female voice was excellent, the male voice on occasion could be rushed, but perhaps that was a part of the acting.
For me the musical interludes were too dramatic, this is because I listen while falling asleep and the music would often be so loud that it brought me fully awake again.