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Bellman & Black

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Bellman & Black

By: Diane Setterfield
Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
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About this listen

As a boy, William Bellman commits one small cruel act that appears to have unforeseen and terrible consequences. The killing of a rook with his catapult is soon forgotten amidst the riot of boyhood games.

And by the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, he seems indeed, to be a man blessed by fortune. Until tragedy strikes, and the stranger in black comes, and William Bellman starts to wonder if all his happiness is about to be eclipsed.

Desperate to save the one precious thing he has left, he enters into a bargain. A rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner, to found a decidedly macabre business. And Bellman & Black is born.

©2013 Diane Setterfield (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Contemporary Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Stranger

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I enjoyed this book a lot at the outset but by the end , I am sorry to say, that had grown a bit tired of it . I think there that there was a lot of unnecessary detail , which added little and perhaps destroyed the momentum that may otherwise have been building . That is not to say that it is poorly written or ill conceived . It's just a bit overdone , in my opinion.

Mislaid its early promise

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Beautifully sad but sweet and deep.

The threads of this tale are wonderfully woven with messages and lessons throughout.

Haunting

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I struggled with this story to start with but I am glad I stuck with it. The writing is beautiful and the story is thought provoking. Quite a haunting tale that will stay with me.

Stick with it!

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I'm glad I wasn't put off by some underwhelmed reviewers. I enjoyed this book, as I have every single one of Diane Setterfield's audiobooks. I love the respect and detail that each character is granted and the beautiful pacing. I also really loved the narrator.

I enjoyed this book

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this is not a ghost story, it's a story of a likeable man descending into grief and mental illness. the main character becomes increasingly unlikeable and you get caught up in his mindset which I suppose it gives credit to the authors and narrators skill but it became a bit tedious. Williams final scene was a complete anticlimax as was the ending of the rook storyline, so much more could have been made of Dora and the rooks. I felt a bit cheated out of a good ending after persevering through the 2nd half of the book

not a ghost story, just about grief

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I’m not sure how you’d classify this book. Is it a ghost story? A horror? A children’s book? Certain parts of it are shildlike. A fiction? A classic? Well, it could be any one or even all of these things. I liked it. It’s complex and yet simple. It’s about one man and his rook and his life as well. I liked it but how to talk about it well, read it and you’ll know just what I mean. What on earth is it except a book?

what on earth is it?

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Every word a treat and beautifully delivered. Some narrators end up by haranguing you but this voice was calm and friendly.
The story was engrossing as to be expected from this author. Enough details to be descriptive but not an unremitting history lesson full of bonnets and petticoats.
I cared about the characters and was sad to reach the end. I have never been disappointed in this author's work.

Thought and Memory

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I've no idea why there have been negative reviews for this. SO glad I ignored them!
It's a fantastical tale with its roots in the real world - or is it the other way around? It's a parabolic parable and is peppered with delightful rooky facts and fables. It also has one of the most gorgeous flights of literary fantasy endings of any book ever.
Yes, you probably have to be in the mood for it, but I clearly was, and loved and recognised every point on the clever parabola that it painted. Oh, and the writing itself is a joy.

Fantastic tale!

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This is just quite extraordinary and definitely Diane Setterfield's best. Engaging from beginning to end and Daniel Philpott has completely captured its essence.

Her best!

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I loved The Thirteenth Tale and Once Upon A River. So, I was ready to love this too. I’m afraid I couldn’t wait for it to finish. I found it turgid snd boring. It was redeemed somewhat by the beautiful ending. I think I see what she was intending to do but somehow the presence of the rooks throughout the novel was too sparse and subtle to profound the profundity or sense of magic needed and William Bellman’s was life so tedious and tragic. She is a superb writer but this one didn’t work for me.

I really wanted to like this

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