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The Book of Hidden Things

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The Book of Hidden Things

By: Francesco Dimitri
Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
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About this listen

From "one of the most significant figures of the last generation of fantasy" comes Francesco Dimitri's debut novel in English, an enthralling and seductive fantasy following four old friends and the secrets they keep.

Four friends have a pact: to meet up on the same day every year in their small hometown in southern Italy. Art, the charismatic leader of the group, has always been adamant about the pact. But this year, he doesn't show up. Searching for him, the friends make a worrying discovery: Art has been farming marijuana, a very dangerous activity in mafia-controlled country. Asking around in town, they hear bizarre and incredible rumours that Art cured a young girl of leukemia. And then, amongst the chaos of his house, they find a curious manuscript written by Art called The Book of Hidden Things, which promises to reveal secrets enchanting as flames, and just as treacherous....

©2018 Francesco Dimitri (P)2020 W. F. Howes Ltd Dark Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Supernatural Thriller & Suspense Paranormal

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Critic reviews

"An affecting fable of friendship, magic and nostalgia." (The Guardian)

"In lesser hands, this blend of detective story, organized crime thriller, and supernatural investigation would feel like a grab bag of plot devices, but Dimitri has created a thrilling spectacle that also manages to point poignantly at the way the landscapes we grow up in shape us in ways even beyond our understanding. A deeply felt look at the idea of home, clothed as a popcornworthy page-turner." (Kirkus Reviews)

"An evocative meditation on friendship, adulthood, and the liminal spaces that lie just outside human perception [...] Dimitri's beautifully written tale, steeped in nostalgia, folklore, and religion, will enthrall and terrify readers." (Publishers Weekly)
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Great story to keep you entertained. Loved every second. Re-read it twice. I would recommend this to everyone.

leved the birds eye view

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I could listen to this guy's vice all day. I definitely lost track of who was telling the story when (character perspective kept switching). started out so intriguing and promising but just ended up frustrating I'd say! ah well. the narration was enough for me to stick it out!

outstanding narration - frustrating story!

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Great story well told, held my attention right to the end highly recommend . Great details of life in southern Italy

Excellent

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I really enjoyed this story, so I saw it through to the end in spite of the inappropriate and over dramatic reading. Very believable central characters, a great idea and an interesting ending. I will look for this author again

Great story, horrible narration

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I enjoyed this story. Yes at times I did lose which character was being narrated and I had to go back a few seconds to get my mind in line with the story.
Unlike any story I’ve listened to before, nice to try something new.

Very enjoyable

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The narrator ruined this book for me entirely. What promises to be a great mystery ends up sounding like pantomime and inauthentic. Definitely not the right voice for the characters or personalities. Ugh! Could not finish!

Awful narration ruined a good premise

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Maybe I didn’t get far enough in but after 2.5hrs and no fantasy elements to what I thought was going to be a fantasy book then I gave up. Narrator was a bit dull to be honest.

Not what I expected

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I thought this book was awful - both the story line and the narration. If I could give it 'zero' stars I would. I see I'm not the only reviewer who thought that it has mysogenistic sexual fantacies which I thought that the author should have got over by the time he was 14. The book is divided into chapters narrated by four different characters - it was difficult to know which character was narrating at the time because the narrator seems to have a limited number of voices.

Better left hidden

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