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The Editor's Wife

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The Editor's Wife

By: Clare Chambers
Narrated by: Joshua Riley
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

From the highly acclaimed author of Small Pleasures - longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021.

When aspiring novelist Christopher Flinders drops out of university to write his masterpiece (in between shifts as a fish delivery man and builder's mate), his family is sceptical.

But when he is taken up by the London editor Owen Goddard and his charming wife, Diana, it seems success is just around the corner. Christopher's life has so far been rather short of charm - growing up in an unlovely suburb, with unambitious parents and a semi-vagrant brother - and he is captivated by his generous and cultured mentors.

However, on the brink of realising his dream, Christopher makes a desperate misjudgment that results in disaster for all involved. Shattered, he withdraws from London and buries himself in rural Yorkshire, embracing a career and a private life marked by mediocrity.

Twenty years on, a young academic researching into Owen Goddard seeks him out, and Christopher is forced to exhume his past, setting him on a path to a life-changing discovery.

©2007 Clare Chambers (P)2021 Penguin Audio Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction England Comedy

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All stars
Most relevant  
A many tiered tale following the lives and fates of individuals trying to win at the game of life. I highly recommend this to you x

An engaging story of the triumph of love

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I really enjoyed this book. easy listening but intriguing at the same time. Would recommend.

Unexpected ending

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The author is clearly a natural storyteller and that is her strength as a novelist. However, in this account of love and happenstance, for good and ill, she has done little more than tell her story. It is a book of incidents and characters, and it holds the interest without ever exciting the interest. So, a warm bath then, not a rousing spa.

A story, but not more

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I enjoyed this story ….eventually. I’m glad I listened to it, rather than read the book, as I’d have been inclined to put it down and not go back to it. I found the first part quite boring and difficult to engage with the characters, even though they were all so well described.
Once the story reached the second part, I found myself caught up in the tale of Christopher and Diana’s affair, the intrigue, complications and inevitable heartbreak. The final part ties up all the loose ends, a little cliched at times, but there were actual twists which surprised me.
I found the narration irritating to begin with. I could have done without the chuckles whenever there was anything amusing to recount, and a few odd pronunciations. After a while, however, I barely noticed, and just enjoyed the story.

Glad I stuck with it!

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The Editor’s Wife is a book that’s well written in the kind of way that you have to pause and appreciate how easy it is to get swept up in the story. I got this on the strength of Clare Chamber’s Small Pleasures (which was LL for the Women’s Prize and a great read), noting this appears to be a re-issue.

Chris Flinders has taken voluntary redundancy. Living on a farm outside of York we know that he started out as an idealistic novelist. However, it takes some big events to get from undergraduate writer to a man with untold stories. Gerald, his nomadic brother lends further colour along with Owen, his editor and Owen’s wife Diana.

The whole ensemble are well crafted and believable. The observations from Chris are often warm and witty, adding to the thrust of the book. With an engaging beginning and throughly satisfying ending, I thought it lost its way a little in the middle. Overall a solid 3.5*

Thanks to Penguin Random House, Cornerstone and Netgalley for an ARC

Enjoyable

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I think Clare Chambers is a great writer and I was looking forward to listening to this book, as I haven’t read it… But I have had to give up because of the terrible narration! Emphasis on strange words, tone doesn’t match the content, meaning mangled - it’s as if he doesn’t understand what he’s reading at all. The book deserves better. Would love it if this one was re-recorded!

Strong story, shame about the narration

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Ok. Don’t really seem to have a plot. Characters OK.
Narration ok. Weak storyline. Became background noise as opposed to an active listen

Ok. Don’t really seem to have a plot.

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I did enjoy this gentle story and I thought it was really well written. I loved the character of Gerald! I have to say that the narrator had a sweet voice but I agree with other reviews. If you are going to be a voice artist, you really should work on your TH sound. It does grate! There were strange moments when words were emphasised wrongly and that was quite annoying. A good producer should listen through and get the artist to do repairs. I don't want to be mean! I still listened to the end.

I enjoyed this!

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I loved the turn of phrase, the well observed emotions of the characters which are well drawn and empathetic. The sibling rivalry rings true. The parental relationships are also very credible. Ultimately it is a love story with tragedy and pain, honour and gentlemanliness manners. We’ll set in the 1980’s/90’s. Throughly enjoyed and relived long after finishing the book.

Charming, very well observed

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I recently discovered Clare Chambers, I’m so glad I did! She’s such a great, insightful writer.

Excellent!

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