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Magpie Lane

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Magpie Lane

By: Lucy Atkins
Narrated by: Susie Riddell
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About this listen

When the eight-year-old daughter of an Oxford College Master vanishes in the middle of the night, police turn to the Scottish nanny, Dee, for answers.

As Dee looks back over her time in the Master's Lodging - an eerie and ancient house - a picture of a high achieving but dysfunctional family emerges: Nick, the fiercely intelligent and powerful father; his beautiful Danish wife Mariah, pregnant with their child; and the lost little girl, Felicity, almost mute, seeing ghosts, grieving her dead mother.

But is Dee telling the whole story? Is her growing friendship with the eccentric house historian, Linklater, any cause for concern? And most of all, why was Felicity silent?

Roaming Oxford's secret passages and hidden graveyards, Magpie Lane explores the true meaning of family - and what it is to be denied one.

©2020 Lucy Atkins (P)2020 Quercus Editions Limited Detective Mystery Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Fiction Exciting Scary Highlander

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Critic reviews

"Enthralling...creepy and compelling." (The Times)

"Deliciously dark." (Alexandra Shulman)

"A gorgeously satisfying triumph." (Lucy Mangan)
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keeps you guessing, chapter after chapter. Sensational writing. leaves you wanting to visit magpie lane.

A true page turner

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This book started well and the writing is fair but the actual story becomes predictable, then unrealistic and ridiculous.
The narrator is excellent.

Totally Unrealistic

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Like a lot of books, this starts well and draws you into the plot but, in the end, mute child, dreaming spires and evil posh people just wears a bit thin. It's not helped by the reader who makes the central character sound about 75 and incredibly angry and dour throughout, which is probably not the author's intention since she's a love interest. As so often with thrillers, the plot gets silly and embarrassing rather than more exciting. I mean, look, it's hard, and this is well structured with the police interviews and the retrospect. But, in the end, meh.

Great at first but then got silly not chilling

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I loved this, I was gripped from the beginning . A clever plot and great narration too

great plot and narration

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This is such a well crafted, carefully told story; compelling and utterly addictive - I listened to it in two days! Fantastic narration with brilliant accents added to the whole listening experience.
Highly recommended.

Fantastic!

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This combined so many great elements - gothic atmosphere, history of Oxford and a lot of general creepiness. The story was great and the narration superb. I could see where it was going but it still kept me hooked.
I also wavered so much between sympathy and annoyance with some of the characters. And then ending, as mentioned, was on a sort of cliffhanger but I so much wanted 'them' to get away with it.

Brilliant read

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This was brilliantly performed. A clever enjoyable psychological whodunnit with some excellently drawn characters. It was a wee bit slow in the middle otherwise would’ve given it five stars.

Clever and enjoyable

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lots of reference to paranormal, witchcraft and history but no credible resolution. Characters were incredibly stereotypical. I did like the building of tension but was disappointed that I guessed the denouement early in the tale - thought it would be too obvious- sadly not

Predictable!

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I thought it was a good book, really enjoyed how it was written and very much enjoyed the narration. but I did find it slightly predictable.

Good

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This is an excellent story, and well narrated. The ending haunted me for ages afterwards.

Excellent but a bit disturbing

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