Bella cover art

Bella

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Bella

By: Jilly Cooper
Narrated by: Ruth Urquhart
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About this listen

Bella Parkinson is the most promising actress in London, bright, sexy...and hopelessly scatterbrained.

Rupert Henriques is dashingly handsome and wealthy enough to buy her every theatre in London if she wanted it; he cannot wait to marry her. But Bella has a secret from her past - and the one man who knows it is about to come back into her life again....

©1976 Jilly Cooper (P)2017 W.F. Howes Ltd Romance Women's Fiction Fiction Celebrity

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Critic reviews

"Flawlessly entertaining." (Helen Fielding)
"Unputdownable." (Marian Keyes)
All stars
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This is a fun romance that’s very evocative of the seventies although now a little dated. Bella is talented, spoilt and hiding a secret which she believes will bring her promising career to an abrupt stop. The Henriques family is rich, well connected, snobbish and definitely don’t see Bella as a viable prospect for their son. This audible was a bit spoiled for me by the narrator whose performance was very uneven. At times she sounded very stilted which really slowed down parts of the story and gave a very unrealistic feel to some of the characters.

Fun and frothy

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Sadly I didn’t like the narrator. Didn’t tell the story very well. They droned on as if they wanted to get it over quickly

A true Jilly Cooper book that I avidly read 40 years ago

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Such a pity because I loved these books when I was younger but the narrator really can’t speak English - it’s as though she’s American doing an English accent and failing :( please please have this re recorded Jilly xx excellent storyline and such a joy to revisit it after twenty years x

Wonderful but poor narration

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I have read this book time and time again, and was really pleased when I saw it on audible, but am so so disappointed by the narration. Her voice is monotone and droney, and I'm afraid I will not be listening to any other book that is narrated by this, so called, voice artist. Sorry

Narration

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I really enjoyed this, and having read the book many, many years ago, the audio was just as enjoyable. BUT - you have to remember that this is a 1970s book, so judging it by today's standards may seem a little odd. For example, 'Bella took her wireless into the bathroom' and 'she read her mail' - now it would be listening to Spotify whilst checking Facebook! So it's a little culture-dated, but if you were alive at that time and can appreciate that kind of normal, this is one of Ms Coopers brilliantly told tales of poor-girl joining high-country society and a thoroughly 5 star story.

The narration had distinctly different voices and the male voices by a female speaker sounded genuine, although I was a bit put off by the slow speed with which every sentence was finished - it gave the narration a rather robotic feel outside of the dialogue. For that reason, 3 for the performance.

Overall, a solid 4 stars and would listen to again.

Perfect tale of the 70s

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I'm sure it's a good story but I couldn't listen to the narrator reading it after about 10 mins. Shame, I like JC books and now have a wasted credit..

Couldn't listen any longer

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Loved this book in my twenties in the 1980s. It is slightly old fashioned but was true to the time it was written. I was really looking forward to hearing it on Audible. Sadly the narration is truly dreadful. The intonation and phrasing is clearly not understood by the reader and she cannot pronounce quite a few words. Because I know the book I can hear it in my head as the original but the narration ruins the flow of the story. The narrator sounds very robotic and dull. This is supposed to be a lively and amusing story. Sorry.

Great book ruined by awful narration

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Dreadful voice over - the words sound almost slurred. Sad as I love this book but it is difficult to listen to as it sounds a bit robotic.

I love Bella but this was difficult to listen to

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BUT readers now must appreciate when it was written! I love all these books, Octavia Emily prudence etc it’s very much the style of the decade, I reread or listen to these often.

Great book

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This book was written in the 60s, is very much of its time and therefore it is inappropriate ( as other reviewers have) to compare it to Jilly Coopers more recent books. It has romance and then some very unexpected twists and turns. The narrator copes with these admirably and has a nice tone and pace as well as good characterisation.

Book written in the 60s!

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