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Beyond Black

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Beyond Black

By: Hilary Mantel
Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
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About this listen

Alison Hart, a medium by trade, tours the dormitory towns of London's orbital ring road with her flint-hearted sidekick, Colette, passing on messages from beloved dead ancestors. But behind her plump, smiling persona hides a desperate woman: she knows the terrors the next life holds but must conceal them from her wide-eyed clients. At the same time she is plagued by spirits from her own past, who infiltrate her body and home, becoming stronger and nastier the more she resists....

©2005 Hilary Mantel (P)2006 Isis Publishing Ltd Classics Dark Humour Genre Fiction Horror Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Satire Suspense Thriller & Suspense Urban Scary Comedy Fiction Funny Witty Mind-bending Heartfelt
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The story is intriguing, the characterisations compelling, the narration perfect. But I suspect when this was recorded, the engineer used a very harsh gate on the narrators voice to cut out lip noises, breath etcetera. The result it that when listened to on wireless earbuds, which is how I listen to all my Audible books, the gate cuts out the first syllable of a word after a pause. In the many conversations in the book, this renders the audio virtually unlistenable. The problem is not evident when played through conventional speakers or wired headphones, nor do my wireless earbuds have a problem with any other Audible book. But this technical problem has thoroughly interfered with my ability to enjoy the book, sadly.

Technical issue for wireless earbud users

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Dowloaded this on a whim and was delighted to gripped from the beginning. The Narrator's separate voices were great, especially Colette. I had a picture of her in my head immediately.

Beyond expectations

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I thought this book was going to be a series book, it is nothing of the sought. It is a weird book and I couldn't find a story in it really just lots of bits of stories.
But, I must say it did make me laugh from the beginning to the end! A very black comedy which I thought was a bit to long.

?

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I just did. Maybe it was the language or the character descriptions. It wasn't the plot, because I never quite got it. I liked it anyway.

Impossible to tell you why I liked it

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An original plot device for a story about relationships and social commentary, brilliantly written as always by Ms Mantel. Terrific dialogue, to which the narrator largely does justice, especially with Al and Colette. She struggles at times with male voices.

Great characters

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I always find Hilary Mantels books interesting and this one certainly is! It is completely different to
anything I have ever read before and deals with mediums and the after life! Really weird!
Sometimes hilarious and sometimes very sad.
The narrators were brilliant.
It kept my interest!

Different

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I expected a pretty good read from this book by Hilary Mantell - unfortunately, this tale of the lives of two women fell far short of my expectations, it was sad & dreary, really not worthy of the time spent in wading through its chapters. Sorry, Hilary - this left me wondering why, at the book’s conclusion, I had stuck with it. Best to keep with your historical novels which have a good, solid basis on which to build a fascinating read for your followers.

Disappointing

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Great writing, great characters and absolutely brilliant narration. A bit rambling in places but I really enjoyed it. Very dark topics but also laugh out loud funny in places.

Brilliant

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took me a chapter to get really into in, but then it’s so juicy and spooky! Really amazing reader too - loved it

Spooky

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I’m not sure what I expected but this wasn’t it. Not one redeeming character in the whole bunch. Having said that there were some genuinely funny moments and the narration was on point. I’m quite sure I won’t revisit this tale but strangely I’m glad I read this

Quirky, amusing but also depressing

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