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A Civil Contract

By: Georgette Heyer
Narrated by: Dominic Thorburn
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

Adam Deveril, the new Viscount Lynton and a hero at Salamanca, returns from the Peninsula War to find his family on the brink of ruin and the broad acres of his ancestral home mortgaged to the hilt. It is Lord Oversley, father of Adam's first love, who tactfully introduces him to Mr Jonathan Chaleigh, a city man of apparently unlimited wealth with no social ambitions for himself, but with his eyes firmly fixed on a suitable match for his one and only daughter.

For more than 50 years Georgette Heyer brought romance and adventure to a wordwide audience, and Civil Contract shows how she continues to be loved today.

©1961 Georgette Heyer (P)2021 Penguin Audio
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What listeners say about A Civil Contract

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An engaging tale of believable people

One of my favourite books from this author. It tells a delightful tale and has such a strong cast of characters, among them is a most unusual heroine for G. Heyer, and her ebullient and un-aristocratic but loveable father.
It is the story of a marriage of convenience told against a backdrop of upper class English life around the time of the Battle of Waterloo. It unfolds gently but holds the attention.
The narration is very good, particularly for the father. That is very well done. The narrator doesn't try to put on female voices also, which I sometimes find annoying. However he does have an undulating cadence to his voice - a bit like a TV announcer - which irritated me somewhat, but It didn't spoil my enjoyment of the story, which I first read 5 decades ago.

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Excellent story, great characters

Coming to this straight from Devil’s Cub, the contrast could not have been greater. Dramatic scenes and furious duels on the one hand, to the careful growing and acceptance of life, relationships, and maturation in the other. Both are excellent stories, but the calmer pace of this one drew out beautifully nuanced people and relationships, and it felt potentially quite realistic. Nobody is demonised, everyone is understood. Would definitely recommend.

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1 person found this helpful

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Great

This is one of my favourite books of Georgette's. I have been reading them since I was at school and I still love them.

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one of Heyer's best

terrific story at the time of the Napoleonic war, with memorable characters, a great tale and well told.

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A beautiful story and a sensitive narration.

I loved this book. A great storyline, but the narration
was excellent. I would highly recommend this audiobook

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2 people found this helpful

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One of my favourites

I love this story and the characters in it. One of my favourites of Heyer’s. I enjoyed the narration too

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Another lovely take from Georgette Heyer

Well drawn characters, gentle humour and a dash of Georgian history thrown in. Thoroughly enjoyable.

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A Civil Contract

I love All Georgette Heyer’s novels. She writes with drama and humour and very real emotion. I dislike the way they are read. No reality in the attempt to portray a character

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Very enjoyable!

I have read this book in past years.
Found the narrated version very entertaining.
Very well read and interpreted.

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Really enjoy this

For me, this was a first class novel. Enjoyed the believable story and the author’s usually excellent commentary. Narrator was really top class too.
Lewis

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