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The Copper Peacock and Other Stories

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The Copper Peacock and Other Stories

By: Ruth Rendell
Narrated by: Penelope Keith
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About this listen

With deceptive economy in these nine short stories, Ruth Rendell indicates hidden depths in ordinary events and creates a sense of profound unease. The stories are: 'A Pair of Yellow Lilies', 'Paperwork', 'Mother’s Hel'p, 'Long Live the Queen', 'Dying Happy', 'The Copper Peacock', 'Weeds', 'The Fish-Sitter', and 'An Unwanted Woman'.

©1991 Kingsmarkham Enterprises Ltd (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Suspense Thriller & Suspense
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Loved the twists and turns
loved the fact of the short story
Very well read

Good plot

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Ruth Rendell has always been a favourite of mine, but be warned, this collection is anything. But happy ending. The characters are mostly extremely unpleasant, nicely read by Penelope Keith.

Clever but very unpleasant

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A good collection of short stories. Most more of a puzzle, than the usual murders that Ruth Rendell regails. Perfectly narrated by Penelope Keith.

Good.

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Reading this, prompted by it leaving the Audible Included catalogue at the end of the month, has really made me aware of how biased and just how much of a hipster class warrior I am and that I should get over myself and read as widely as possible because, it turns out I had been sleeping on Rendell.

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection! Some stories more than others, but the title story sticks out as one of those stories that truly gave me the shivers. I absolutely loved it, in spite of the bleakness of its subject matter.

Rendell renders self-obsessed, cruel, callous, bastard men exquisitely. Her writing reads, especially with the wonderful Peneolpe Keith Narration, in a rather play-like fashion, both morality and stage.

This definitely left me wanting to read more of her work and I will be looking out for and welcome recommendations from her wide library.

This Taught Me to Stop Being a Hipster and Read Everything

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I liked the stories even though a couple were predictable. Ruth Rendell is an expert at her craft.
I didn’t like the way the chapter endings often didn’t relate to the endings of the stories. This was confusing and also difficult to find a story beginning if you fell asleep or didn’t notice that one story had ended and another started.
The relative lack of variety in the reader’s voice made this more likely and vice-versa, and flattened the tone of the stories.

Stories OK chapter divisions strange

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This really is a brilliant collection of short stories. really enjoyed all of them alot

A great listen

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Yes I confirm that I have read and very much enjoyed this book…(listened to I mean!)

Thank you so much

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I enjoyed this although some of the stories were a little predictable. They were mostly short enough to listen to at one sitting - however I wish the narrator had paused for a little longer between each story and given each new title a little more emphasis - sometimes she began a new story so quickly that I hardly realised the last one had finished!

Easy listening

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Penelope Keith has the most beautiful voice, it’s a joy to listen to her, and reading Ruth Randell’s stories is perfection. Highly recommended

Wonderful listen

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I liked some but not others and I felt that some of the stories ended very abruptly. I did like the first story, though.

A mixed bunch

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