In the Dark cover art

In the Dark

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In the Dark

By: Deborah Moggach
Narrated by: Henrietta Garden
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About this listen

It is the year 1916, and pretty young Eithne Clay runs a shabby but genteel South London boarding house while her husband is off at war. Her 14-year old son Ralph dotes on his mother, but has adolescent thoughts he'd rather hide from her.

Winnie, the young maid, is a homely, good-hearted country girl, rejected by Archie, the cheeky butcher's boy before he too is called up. And when the dreaded telegram arrives at the house, things turn from difficult to desperate for the two young women....

©2007 Deborah Moggach (P)2008 W F Howes Ltd Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Heartfelt Young Adult War

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Critic reviews

"A deliciously vivid portrait." ( Financial Times)
"An accomplished story teller with a finely tuned ear for dialogue." ( Herald)
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Loved this book, the narrator brought it too life. Unfortunately the story ended too abruptly.

Brilliant narrator

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I will miss listening to this story.
Beautifully narrated and very well written.
Lots of twists. You will enjoy it too, I'm sure.

Gripping

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This book was enjoyable and the reading was good. Love Deborah maccagh books very interesting and good story that keeps you interested.

Excellent book

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Wonderful narration by Henrietta Garden, which could be hilarious, poignant and matter-of-fact (as in Mrs Beeton's shockingly dispassionate advice on animal husbandry). Each voice brought added richness to the characters. Flyte's lisp strangely gave out towards the end, but it was a masterful performance nonetheless, which added to my enjoyment of Moggach's exceptional novel.

I loved Winnie's gentle nature and her love of animals, which contrasted so vividly with the character of the brutish butcher Neville Turk.

The story beautifully illustrates the impact of the First World War not only on the soldiers, but the horses, some of them frail and old, taken from farms and used to assist in the slaughter or to fall victim themselves. Winnie touchingly imagines the affect that witnessing the carnage may have had on those able to return to their stables after the war.

Women's wartime predicaments are treated by Moggach with shrewd insight: Eithne's survival instincts for herself and Ralph leading to a pragmatic disregard for costly morality and the turning of a blind eye to uncomfortable truths.

I enjoyed the development of Flyte's character from free-loading cynic to unlikely hero.

Moggach is a brilliant story-teller, whose denouements are both shocking and entirely believable.

Powerful, funny and insightful

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I found this slow to start however it took pace and I soon became engrossed in the lives of all in this guest house. The tenants and the owner and her family and maid. It was another well written book by Deborah Moggach - read others so expected a good story. Not disappointed - would recommend. I couldn’t sworn the narrator was Olivia Colman she sounds so alike.

A snapshot of the lives of ordinary folk in WW1

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Sadly lost interest quite quickly. Want the book to be more of the war so really a bad pick from me but I found the narrator off putting. Bought as a BOGOF.

In the dark

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