-
The Tuscan Child
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble, Katy Sobey
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Venice Sketchbook
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Caroline Grant is struggling to accept the end of her marriage when she receives an unexpected bequest. Her beloved great-aunt Lettie leaves her a sketchbook, three keys, and a final whisper...Venice. Caroline’s quest: to scatter Juliet “Lettie” Browning’s ashes in the city she loved and to unlock the mysteries stored away for more than 60 years.
-
-
Poor character and storyline development
- By Sasha on 05-19-21
By: Rhys Bowen
-
The Victory Garden
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the Great War continues to take its toll, headstrong 21-year-old Emily Bryce is determined to contribute to the war effort. She is convinced by a cheeky and handsome Australian pilot that she can do more, and it is not long before she falls in love with him and accepts his proposal of marriage. When he is sent back to the front, Emily volunteers as a “land girl,” tending to the neglected grounds of a large Devonshire estate. It’s here that Emily discovers the long-forgotten journals of a medicine woman who devoted her life to her herbal garden.
-
-
Ridiculously bad
- By mary on 03-23-19
By: Rhys Bowen
-
Queen of Hearts
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lady Georgiana Rannoch, 35th in line for the British throne, knows how to play the part of an almost royal - but now she's off to Hollywood, where she must reprise her role as sleuth or risk starring in an all-too-convincing death scene...
-
-
So disappointing!
- By Frances on 08-24-14
By: Rhys Bowen
-
Above the Bay of Angels
- A Novel
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Gemma Dawson
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Isabella Waverly only means to comfort the woman felled on a London street. In her final dying moments, she thrusts a letter into Bella’s hand. It’s an offer of employment in the kitchens of Buckingham Palace, and everything the budding young chef desperately wants: an escape from the constrictions of her life as a lowly servant. In the stranger’s stead, Bella can spread her wings. Arriving as Helen Barton from Yorkshire, she pursues her passion for creating culinary delights, served to the delighted Queen Victoria herself.
-
-
5 Star Book!
- By SueS on 02-28-20
By: Rhys Bowen
-
In Farleigh Field
- A Novel
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Gemma Dawson
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World War II comes to Farleigh Place, the ancestral home of Lord Westerham and his five daughters, when a soldier with a failed parachute falls to his death on the estate. After his uniform and possessions raise suspicions, MI5 operative and family friend Ben Cresswell is covertly tasked with determining if the man is a German spy. The assignment also offers Ben the chance to be near Lord Westerham's middle daughter, Pamela, whom he furtively loves. But Pamela has her own secret.
-
-
Fun New Characters
- By SW Clemens on 03-17-17
By: Rhys Bowen
-
These Tangled Vines
- A Novel
- By: Julianne MacLean
- Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If Fiona has learned anything in life, it’s how to keep a secret - even from the father who raised her. She is the only person who knows about her late mother’s affair in Tuscany thirty years earlier, and she intends to keep it that way...until a lawyer calls with shocking news: her biological father has died and left her an incredible inheritance - along with two half siblings.
-
-
Really enjoyed this story, but it was sad...
- By Debbie on 07-02-21
By: Julianne MacLean
-
The Venice Sketchbook
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Caroline Grant is struggling to accept the end of her marriage when she receives an unexpected bequest. Her beloved great-aunt Lettie leaves her a sketchbook, three keys, and a final whisper...Venice. Caroline’s quest: to scatter Juliet “Lettie” Browning’s ashes in the city she loved and to unlock the mysteries stored away for more than 60 years.
-
-
Poor character and storyline development
- By Sasha on 05-19-21
By: Rhys Bowen
-
The Victory Garden
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the Great War continues to take its toll, headstrong 21-year-old Emily Bryce is determined to contribute to the war effort. She is convinced by a cheeky and handsome Australian pilot that she can do more, and it is not long before she falls in love with him and accepts his proposal of marriage. When he is sent back to the front, Emily volunteers as a “land girl,” tending to the neglected grounds of a large Devonshire estate. It’s here that Emily discovers the long-forgotten journals of a medicine woman who devoted her life to her herbal garden.
-
-
Ridiculously bad
- By mary on 03-23-19
By: Rhys Bowen
-
Queen of Hearts
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lady Georgiana Rannoch, 35th in line for the British throne, knows how to play the part of an almost royal - but now she's off to Hollywood, where she must reprise her role as sleuth or risk starring in an all-too-convincing death scene...
-
-
So disappointing!
- By Frances on 08-24-14
By: Rhys Bowen
-
Above the Bay of Angels
- A Novel
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Gemma Dawson
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Isabella Waverly only means to comfort the woman felled on a London street. In her final dying moments, she thrusts a letter into Bella’s hand. It’s an offer of employment in the kitchens of Buckingham Palace, and everything the budding young chef desperately wants: an escape from the constrictions of her life as a lowly servant. In the stranger’s stead, Bella can spread her wings. Arriving as Helen Barton from Yorkshire, she pursues her passion for creating culinary delights, served to the delighted Queen Victoria herself.
-
-
5 Star Book!
- By SueS on 02-28-20
By: Rhys Bowen
-
In Farleigh Field
- A Novel
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Gemma Dawson
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World War II comes to Farleigh Place, the ancestral home of Lord Westerham and his five daughters, when a soldier with a failed parachute falls to his death on the estate. After his uniform and possessions raise suspicions, MI5 operative and family friend Ben Cresswell is covertly tasked with determining if the man is a German spy. The assignment also offers Ben the chance to be near Lord Westerham's middle daughter, Pamela, whom he furtively loves. But Pamela has her own secret.
-
-
Fun New Characters
- By SW Clemens on 03-17-17
By: Rhys Bowen
-
These Tangled Vines
- A Novel
- By: Julianne MacLean
- Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If Fiona has learned anything in life, it’s how to keep a secret - even from the father who raised her. She is the only person who knows about her late mother’s affair in Tuscany thirty years earlier, and she intends to keep it that way...until a lawyer calls with shocking news: her biological father has died and left her an incredible inheritance - along with two half siblings.
-
-
Really enjoyed this story, but it was sad...
- By Debbie on 07-02-21
By: Julianne MacLean
-
Magic Hour
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the rugged Pacific Northwest lies the Olympic National Forest - nearly a million acres of impenetrable darkness and impossible beauty. From deep within this old growth forest, a six-year-old girl appears. Speechless and alone, she offers no clue as to her identity, no hint of her past.
-
-
Horrible narration
- By Howard Egan on 12-27-20
By: Kristin Hannah
-
The Chocolatier
- A Heartwarming Novel of Chocolate, Love, and Secrets on the Italian Coast
- By: Jan Moran
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
San Francisco, 1953: Heartbroken over the mysterious death of her husband, Celina Savoia, a second-generation chocolatière, resolves to take their young son to Italy's shimmering Amalfi coast to introduce him to his father's family. Just as she embarks on a magical, romantic life of making chocolate by the sea surrounded by a loving family, she begins to suspect that her husband had a dark secret - forged in the final days of WWII - that could destroy the relationships she's come to cherish.
-
-
Literary Fiction at its best!
- By Sara Landon on 06-13-20
By: Jan Moran
-
The Last Bookshop in London
- A Novel of World War II
- By: Madeline Martin
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
August 1939: London is dismal under the weight of impending war with Germany as Hitler’s forces continue to sweep across Europe. Into this uncertain maelstrom steps Grace Bennett, young and ready for a fresh start in the bustling city streets she’s always dreamed of - and miles away from her troubled past in the countryside. With aspirations of working at a department store, Grace never imagined she’d wind up employed at Primrose Hill, an offbeat bookshop nestled in the heart of the city - after all, she’s never been much of a reader.
-
-
Very very seldom
- By Sherry Tritt Holton on 04-27-21
By: Madeline Martin
-
Eye of the Needle
- A Novel
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
His code name was “The Needle.” He was a German aristocrat of extraordinary intelligence - a master spy with a legacy of violence in his blood, and the object of the most desperate manhunt in history.... But his fate lay in the hands of a young and vulnerable English woman, whose loyalty, if swayed, would assure his freedom - and win the war for the Nazis....
-
-
All-time great thriller, great reader, great idea
- By Glenn Hopp on 03-14-21
By: Ken Follett
-
Murphy's Law
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Molly Murphy always knew she'd end up in trouble, just as her mother predicted. So, when she commits murder in self-defense, she flees her cherished Ireland, under cover of a false identity, for the anonymous shores of late 19th-century America. When she arrives in New York and sees the welcoming promise of freedom in the Statue of Liberty, Molly begins to breathe easier. But when a man is murdered on Ellis Island, a man Molly was seen arguing with, she becomes a prime suspect in the crime.
-
-
Cream Puff Read
- By Jan on 12-19-13
By: Rhys Bowen
-
Evans Above
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Evan Evans is a young police constable who has traded in the violence of city life for idyllic Llanfair, a Welsh village tucked far away from trouble. Nestled among the Snowdonia mountain range, Llanfair looks to Constable Evans like a town forgotten by time, but he quickly learns that even the bucolic countryside has its share of eccentric - and deadly - characters.
-
-
Interesting....
- By brian on 01-22-17
By: Rhys Bowen
-
Murder in an Irish Pub
- By: Carlene O'Connor
- Narrated by: Caroline Lennon
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The small village of Kilbane is hosting a poker tournament at the local pub, and card sharp Eamon Foley, a tinker out of Dublin, is set to win the tournament. But when Foley is found at the end of a rope, it’s time for the garda to take matters into their own hands. Macdara Flannery would lay odds it’s a simple suicide, but Siobhán suspects foul play, as does Foley’s pregnant widow.
-
-
Best in the series so far!
- By DeniseB on 04-07-19
By: Carlene O'Connor
-
The Lincoln Highway
- A Novel
- By: Amor Towles
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Marin Ireland, Dion Graham
- Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car.
-
-
I'm totally opposite
- By Meaghan Bynum on 10-10-21
By: Amor Towles
-
From Sand and Ash
- By: Amy Harmon
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As children, Eva Rosselli and Angelo Bianco were raised like family but divided by circumstance and religion. As the years go by, the two find themselves falling in love. But the church calls to Angelo and, despite his deep feelings for Eva, he chooses the priesthood. Now, more than a decade later, Angelo is a Catholic priest and Eva is a woman with nowhere to turn. With the Gestapo closing in, Angelo hides Eva within the walls of a convent.
-
-
Nice story.
- By Kathy-Jane on 01-18-17
By: Amy Harmon
-
The Nightingale
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Polly Stone
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Audie Award, Fiction, 2016. From the number-one New York Times bestselling author comes Kristin Hannah’s next novel. It is an epic love story and family drama set at the dawn of World War II. She is the author of twenty-one novels. Her previous novels include Home Front, Night Road, Firefly Lane, Fly Away, and Winter Garden.
-
-
Irritating Narration and Trite Writing
- By Summer Layne on 05-09-19
By: Kristin Hannah
-
A Very English Murder
- A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery, Book 1
- By: Verity Bright
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1920. Eleanor Swift has spent the last few years travelling the world: taking tea in China, tasting alligators in Peru, escaping bandits in Persia and she has just arrived in England after a chaotic 45-day flight from South Africa. Chipstone is about the sleepiest town you could have the misfortune to meet. But then, from the edge of a quarry, through the driving rain, Eleanor is shocked to see a man shot and killed in the distance. Before she can climb down to the spot, the villain is gone and the body has vanished.
-
-
I wanted to like this so much.
- By BossyFatBabe on 06-23-20
By: Verity Bright
-
Beneath a Scarlet Sky
- A Novel
- By: Mark Sullivan
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 17 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He's a normal Italian teenager - obsessed with music, food, and girls - but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior. In an attempt to protect him, Pino's parents force him to enlist as a German soldier - a move they think will keep him out of combat.
-
-
The Best Thing? It Really Happened!
- By Chip Atkinson on 08-07-17
By: Mark Sullivan
Publisher's Summary
From New York Times best-selling author Rhys Bowen comes a haunting novel about a woman who braves her father's hidden past to discover his secrets....
In 1944, British bomber pilot Hugo Langley parachuted from his stricken plane into the verdant fields of German-occupied Tuscany. Badly wounded, he found refuge in a ruined monastery and in the arms of Sofia Bartoli. But the love that kindled between them was shaken by an irreversible betrayal.
Nearly 30 years later, Hugo's estranged daughter, Joanna, has returned home to the English countryside to arrange her father's funeral. Among his personal effects is an unopened letter addressed to Sofia. In it is a startling revelation.
Still dealing with the emotional wounds of her own personal trauma, Joanna embarks on a healing journey to Tuscany to understand her father's history - and maybe come to understand herself as well. Joanna soon discovers that some would prefer the past be left undisturbed, but she has come too far to let go of her father's secrets now....
Cover design by Shasti O'Leary Soudant
More from the same
What listeners say about The Tuscan Child
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- King
- 06-14-18
A Story Like Weak Wine
This story is like weak wine. It tastes right, just not that memorable or satisfying. The plot and characters are predictable from start to end, and just as frustrating, the narrative never explains what actually happened to one of the main characters. The secondary characters just seem hollow caricatures of prototype description. At its best, the book is a celebration of Italian cooking- but that isn’t what I was hoping for in this mostly disappointing story.
28 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anne
- 02-22-18
Knocked this one out of the park
Rhys Bowen long ago proved her ability to develop interesting, complex characters and intriguing mysteries.
This novel, however, is her absolute best. Set in 1944 and 1973, the premise uses the classic devise of exploring the same story from two points of view and, in this case, two time periods. Hugo Langley is living the situation in 1944 which creates the mystery for Hugo's estranged and troubled daughter Joanna to figure out in 1973 as she comes to terms with both his death and her life.
I don't want to offer any detail that would allow any kind of spoiler, but I can safely tell you that Ms. Bowen has created a mystery, a romance, and a kind of coming-of-age story that will keep you curious until the very end. Nothing much is at is appears to be.
In addition, Ms. Bowen has used language beautifully to bring several complex characters to life in settings that allow the reader to see, feel and smell.
Finally, the narrators are both excellent. Katy Sobey does a wonderful job with Joanna's voice and the characters that live the story with her in 1973 as Joanna tries to solve the mystery she finds in her father's will. But Jonathan Keeble is simply outstanding reading Hugo as a British pilot trapped in a tiny town in Italy under German occupation as the Allies get closer.
I highly and enthusiastically recommend The Tuscan Child. Don't hesitate. Get it.
231 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Martha
- 02-23-18
Loved it!!!
What made the experience of listening to The Tuscan Child the most enjoyable?
I felt like I was there, and since I am going to Rome, now I want to add Tuscany to the trip (but the town is made up, sigh)
Who was your favorite character and why?
I loved Joanna. she seemed sensible for 1973.
What about Jonathan Keeble and Katy Sobey ’s performance did you like?
I like the fact that Audible used a man for a man's voice and a woman for the woman's part and not a back and forth with a woman trying to do a man's voice.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I couldn't listen to it fast enough.
Any additional comments?
Definitely one I will recommend. I have read others by this author. she is one of my "check out to see if she has a new book out" authors.
122 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Drsek
- 05-02-18
Story somewhat predictable, and sooooo sloooow..
With all the good reviews, I expected more from this book. The narrators are fine, but the story is so painfully slow to progress, and the outcome becomes more and more obvious, that I almost gave up on it part way through. I have listened to several of this author's books and won't bother with any more. Note: the descriptions of the food did make me hungry...
58 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Simone
- 03-01-18
So dissapointed! I really wanted to like it.
I REALLY wanted to like this book, and I expected I would because I am such a fan of Rhys Bowen, but sadly this was a total flop for me!
It was eye-rollingly cliched, too easy, oversimplified, the ending was too quick and all things were resolved in a snap. Everyone gets rich and lives happily ever after.
I especially disliked all the food talk! It did not advance the story at all and the attempts to slip recipes into the story felt contrived. I realize the point was to paint the scene and make us feel what a Quaint Tuscan Village must be like… but it didn’t, it was just awkward.
I never felt any emotion for the characters, and therefore could not suspend my disbelieve and just go with it. The only character I did like a little was Hugo but not enough to save the book. Too bad.
Still, this sad miss in a long line of hits from Ms Bowen is just a blip, I continue to be a fan and I will still tune in to whatever she writes next!
115 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Deanne Harper
- 03-01-18
Read it for the Tuscan food descriptions
If you could sum up The Tuscan Child in three words, what would they be?
This story began in a compelling manner; the two main characters are fairly well developed, though other characters much less so. The story dilemma is rather compelling, but the plot turns go from unlikely to preposterous. The child's identity is predictable very early; the villain is evident well before the author reveals that identity. Not a bad listen for a road trip, but little more -- I will say, though, the descriptions of Tuscan cooking caused cravings so powerful I made gnocci tonight (with sausage, sage, garlic, peccorino).
46 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 07-08-18
Overall, a no
I couldn't even finish this one. It's just filler that gets increasingly more boring as it goes along. It also gets increasingly absurd to the point that it's laughable. This would've made a great short story,
21 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- cristina
- 03-06-18
Juvenile
Silly plot (fortuitous earthquakes and coincidences; characters who appear so briefly you'll wonder why they were included at all; abandoned sub plots). Poor character development (passionate man turns into cold hearted father for no reason; class conscious man is conscious of class on and off; intelligent heroine behaves like an idiot). Amazed I finished it.
76 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sara
- 08-07-18
Just a romance
Disappointing. Sappy story. If I'd wanted a romance, I'm sure there are better ones out there.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dan Riley
- 04-26-18
Painful Performances
Way too much performance here. Listeners do not need readers to enact all these different voices. It’s a book, not a play. Trying to do more invites this kind of criticism: the female reader turned all the Italian characters into Bela Lugosi and the male reader robbed the character of Sofia any chance to be imagined as alluring by sticking her with his husky approximation of a woman’s voice. Pretty weak story as well filled with annoying digressions to author’s obvious travel notes.
32 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- BarbaraM
- 07-31-18
Very enjoyable
I enjoyed the mystery, the clues and the eventual revelations. Rhys Bowen has a smooth writing style that is tinged with optimism.
The background, the setting of a WW2 and a modern Italy in rural Tuscany, is interesting, especially if you have a little WW2 Italian campaign knowledge. A very intense and brutal war largely overlooked by Hollywood.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Miss A.
- 11-08-20
Enjoyable
A well read, charming story, easy happy listening. with enough mystery to keep you engaged.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- ababy
- 08-04-20
A wonderful read
Iit conjured up the imaginations of the beautiful Tuscany region of Italian romance and it's struggles with the ever present fears of war
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- MR.K.GILL
- 01-06-19
Really Enjoyed
An audiobook that you want to listen to right to the finish
the only thing that was maybe overdone was the Italian food recipes and constant references to how they were eating
which I think took up chapters in the book
that wasn't required
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jacqui
- 11-24-21
Very enjoyable but a little predictable
Love her books and took this because the fabulous Jonathan Keeble was part narrator. As always he delivered.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Ruth
- 06-08-20
brilliant
this book covers it all, bit of history, bit of crime, bit of romance set in a beautifully described Italian world. perfect escapism that kept me entertained right to the end!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Southern Reader
- 11-11-19
Feel good ending
Enjoyed this story, being able to switch between reading and listening whilst walking was fantastic.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Emilie
- 06-26-19
Soap opera verging on high school essay
Literary equivalent of paint by number. Stilted dialogue and predictable plotting. Narrator is okay but a rote performance with rote material
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- M. J. Packer
- 04-10-22
Unsympathetic
I think I may have enjoyed reading this book. Although Hugo’s narrative could have equally worked if it had preceded that of his daughter Joanna’s, the intertwining of his wartime escapade and her desire to discover his story after his death might have worked as a literary device on the page.
But in narration the story of an injured English officer hiding in the Tuscan hills, aided by the potentially widowed young Italian, was robbed of any sense of passion. The expressionless, cold voice(think a 1950s war film portrayal of a boorish upper class officer) made the growing romance feel flat, somewhat unlikely and essentially unbelievable.
It was rendered more so as it was interrupted by the story of Joanna, his orphaned daughter. An intelligent, aspiring lawyer in the post swinging 60s,sexual revolutionary 1970s, the intrigue surrounding her backstory also fell flat due to the insipid recounting. The narrator’s voice also sowed seeds of doubt, rising as it did with a pseudo-Australian questioning tone at the end of each sentence.
These narrators voices may just have worked, should the father and daughter stories have run consecutively. But as the story switched back and forth, they jarred against each other, leaving me bereft of any sympathy for the injured pilot who lost his wives and lover, as much as for his lost and lonely daughter.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- S M.
- 01-27-22
A gripping and heartbreaking story
Such a well written and narrated story with enough basic historical fact to make it believable and gripping. Really recommend this.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Annette C
- 03-24-18
The Tuscan Child
A new and interesting WW2 story told as a flash back by the daughter of a pilot who had survived after crashing his plane on a bombing mission over Italy. Brilliant characters and a excellent portrayal of a modern small Italian town. The background story is a page turner and the mystery not revealed until the end. The romance develops believably and I liked the ending.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 03-02-18
Terrible !
I made it to chapter 11 before I just had to give in with this book. The narrator had the most annoying reading style where every sentence she read went up at the end as if every sentence was a question and she had this high pitched whiney voice that just got on my nerves every time she spoke . Unfortunately she did most of the 2 part reading. The man's voice was much better but with the annoying woman's voice and the pretty average and not too enthralling story line I lost interest very quickly. Wasted one of my precious credits on this book 😕
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anne
- 02-25-18
Great listen
Had me entranced from beginning to end,love the picture that was evoked by the plot.
Have been a big Rhys Bowen fan since reading my first Royal Spyness mystery.
Hope we get to experience more from my favourite author soon.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Cate B
- 04-24-18
An easy listen
Would you consider the audio edition of The Tuscan Child to be better than the print version?
I found it a bit slow going as an audio book. If I read the print version, I probably would have skimmed some of the long descriptions. That said, I listened to the end and enjoyed some of the twists and turns.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Melania
- 03-07-18
Recommend!
Written so vidily I felt I was there in the scene with the characters. Great story with an optimistic outlook. It took me a while to get used to the narration as it was dramatised. However I would highly recommend this book for its storyline and imagry.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Rudu
- 03-02-18
Predictable, corny sprinkle with melodrama
I really didn’t enjoy this. The reader’s voices were distracting, the characters were cheesy, seemingly no time had been spent researching beyond some time in Tuscany. The caricatures...oops, I mean characters! The brash, uncaring, money obsessed yank...the too-polite-for-his-own-good upper class English gent, the gorgeous but waifish English heroine, the eager Italian homely lady eager to fatten her up, the ogling Italian, the conveniently handsome Italian untouched by his evil benefactors bad traits...ugh!