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Gillespie and I

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Gillespie and I

By: Jane Harris
Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
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About this listen

Longlisted for the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction

Sitting in her Bloomsbury home, with her two birds for company, elderly Harriet Baxter sets out to relate the story of her acquaintance with Ned Gillespie, a talented artist who never achieved the fame he deserved. Back in 1888, after a chance encounter, young Harriet befriends the Gillespie family and soon becomes a fixture in all of their lives. But when tragedy strikes - leading to a notorious criminal trial - the certainties of this world all too rapidly disorientate into mystery and deception.

©2011 Jane Harris (P)2011 W F Howes Ltd Historical Fiction Mystery Fiction Exciting Scary Tear-jerking Suspense

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All stars
Most relevant  

If you could sum up Gillespie and I in three words, what would they be?

Delightful, shocking, heartbreaking.

What other book might you compare Gillespie and I to, and why?

This book to me is absolutely unique. If there is another book like this I would very much like to listen to it.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

I loved the scene where Hester and the family all met up in the park to go to the great exhibition. It was like an historic painting of ordinary and exotic peoples lives at that time.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I found it very difficult to stop listening to this story and felt totally bereft when it was finished.

Any additional comments?

I had read the book a couple of years ago but was so blown away with the shocking twist of it that I wanted to hear the story again. The narrator was superb especially with her portrayal of Sybil. I enjoy reading books set in this period and found it very believable.

A shocking twist of a story!

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I loved this unusual book, told from the point of view of an unreliable narrator in dual time zones. We start the novel in 1933 with Harriet Baxter, an old lady writing her memoirs, looking back on her youth and her intense friendship and involvement with the Gillespie family beginning in 1888.
Simultaneously a second story unfolds in the later time period as Harriet becomes increasingly suspicious of her maid, and we become increasingly unsure of Harriet's sanity and reliability as a narrator.
It's beautifully read by Anna Bentinck who does a nice line in Scottish accidents. (Although the, thankfully little needed, German accent did veer into Pakistani!) she completely strangled the vowels for Elspeth, Sybil lisped beautifully, Ned is quiet, unshowy but appealing, Annie is tired, exasperated and ultimately heartbreaking and so on. Bentinck really made the book come to life. I think she did a much better job than my inner voice would have done.
After a slow start this picked up pace and became very gripping. I was waiting for a big reveal and the loose ends to be tied up nicely at the end, it did seem to peter out a bit for my liking, but I'm still mulling it over so maybe it's better for the reader to be left to draw their own conclusions.

Highly Recommended

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I read this book a few years ago and enjoyed it, and ended up downloading it recently when I couldn't decide what else to try. The audio vastly less enjoyable. Anna Bentinck's narration does not do it for me. In narrative, I find her tone rather simpering. But the worst aspect (features in the other two audios I've heard narrated by her) is her delusion that she's great at "voice". Her insistence on putting on accents and adopting voices for relaying dialogue is at best distracting and at worst toe-curling. The voice of Scots children was awful. I turned off midway through. That aside, I'm not sure the story itself stood up to a second "reading" and I found all sorts of improbabilities and broad brush plot devices if not really picked up first time round.

Narration spoiled it

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This was a long listen which I really enjoyed. The narrator was excellent. It was quite a slow start but I got into its pace and found it quite relaxing; then it went in a direction I was not expecting. A good story overall and a bit unsettling at times.

Very Entertaining

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I was uncertain about this audio book at first but it turned out to be an enthralling listen and superbly read by Anna Bentinck who dealt flawlessly with character changes so that this had none of the "flatness" that some audio books can have. I keep having to go back to the Ipod to "check" my understanding of what really happened or what I might have misconstrued. Set in Victorian Glasgow and switching to thirties London, the main character tells the story of the artist she befriended and their tragic tale.

Outstanding.

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I loved this. The story is told with the assurance of an accomplished writer throwing insight into nineteenth century Glasgow and Scots legal proceedings. The narration is astoundingly good with an array of credible voices and accents. I can’t wait for my next Jane Harris novel and will happily listen to anystory narrated by Anna Bentinck from now on. Ten out of ten all round.

Brilliant narration of a gripping story

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Wonderfully written and expertly narrated, Gillespie & I is a chilling tale of altered perceptions, half truths and obsessive love. Jane Harris is a supremely talented storyteller.

Sublime

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I tried on several occasions to get in to this book. The style of narration, although well matched to the main character and period of the book, irritated me which is why it took several attempts. This is an interesting story switching from 1930s to 1890s and is narrated by a single English lady of private means who befriends the family of a struggling Scottish artist. The family consist of two daughters, one of whom appears disturbed, and throughout the book you do not really know what happened to her. A tragedy ensues in which this spinster lady is implicated. However the story is told as a memoire so you know the outcome even as it unfurls. At some points you feel the past and the present may merge which definitely held my interest. The narrator herself is quite self opinionated. There were times I was irritated by her, but at other times I felt sorry for her. She is someone who appears independent, who befriends people but deep down does not appear to have the support of loving relationships herself and so her "independence" is really more stoical acceptance. Towards the end, I was gripped as I felt something new was about to happen, but in the end it just finishes and was not quite as satisfying as I hoped, as I like a good, surprise ending. I am glad I read this book as it was a change from the contemporary books I usually read but is not in my 5* list.

Something different, glad I read it

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... things are not what they seem. A deceptive tale of obsession, self delusion and possibly madness, simply written and impeccably read in a variety of excellent voices and accents. The story becomes a bit ponderous at times - the reason I've not given it 5 stars - but it is only as the detail builds that the listener starts to question the self awareness of the narrator. Highly recommended.

It just goes to show ...

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Brilliantly read by Anna Bentinck (not only does she cope with a range of accents she even modulates her tone to reflect the 'young' and 'old' periods in the narrator's life) this audiobook had me gripped until the final seconds. It focuses on the tragic fate of the artist, Ned Gillespie as told by his close friend and great admirer Harriet Baxter. What becomes increasingly apparent however, is that this is only one, far from impartial, view of events...
Don't miss out on this one - the closing sentence truly sent a shiver down my spine!

Chilling and Compelling

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