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The Royal Show

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The Royal Show

By: Anton Du Beke
Narrated by: Rachel Hurd-Wood
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About this listen

 By Royal invitation, join us to celebrate The Royal Show!

Prodigal son and loyal daughter...

The Forsyth Variety Company has been given the opportunity of a lifetime - to entertain Her Majesty at 1962's Royal Variety Performance.

Keen to rehearse, the company heads to the Seagate Theatre under the tutelage of the company's owner, Ed Forsyth. This is Ed's last hoorah before retiring and he's keen to leave on a high. But his son, Cal, has absconded, leaving his twin sister, Evie, to help manage the company after their mother's death. Hoping to display her best trapeze performance ever, she's also desperate that the entire troupe should succeed. If only her father hadn't brought in another old-timer... Billy Rich has come all the way from Hollywood, invited to be their main star. Billy is full of bluster and ego and his much younger wife, the mysterious Magdalene, doesn't help.

Can this troupe of old-time crooners, dancing girls and magicians possibly pull this off? Especially when they must compete with the 1960's rebellious new bands and revolutionary music? Abandoned by her brother, Evie has no idea if she'll ever be able to wrestle the troupe into a show fit for a queen.

But as the theatrical group heads towards a royal deadline like no other, Cal returns out of the blue to introduce a song that could change the world. Is he here to help, or are his motivations darker? As the company descends into illicit romance, family intrigue and foul crimes, rehearsals begin to unravel. Can they really do this?

Cal thinks he has the answer, if only the troupe can believe in him.

Because the queen's show must go on...©2023 Anton Du Beke (P)2023 Orion Publishing Group 20th Century Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Romance Royalty

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All stars
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I enjoyed but not as much as the previous books by Anton. Not so keen on the narrator either.

enjoyed

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I was put off by the narration but kept at it because of other comments about the storyline. Had I not listened to the Buckingham series of books I probably wouldn’t have persevered. I missed much of the narration due to the lullaby-esque reading sending me to sleep!! The narration style doesn’t suit the book making the story at times implausible with its wispy romantic tones. About half way through it gets better, the tone changes somewhat but there are times when the paragraph changes scene but there is no break in the voice making it difficult to follow - requiring more than a few rewinds to understand what was happening. Such a shame given how much I enjoyed the Buckingham series. Hard to judge this book as a result.

Narration missed the mark.

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I enjoyed the book but not as much as the previous ones about the Buckingham Hotel. I hope Anton writes more about this in the future.

Enjoyed this.

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Performance ruined what might have been a 5* story, accents of characters kept changing, also would've preferred the performer not to sing, absolutely awful.

Narration.

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Didn’t particularly like the narrator some terrible attempts at accents and OMG the singing was awful and really

Not as good as previous books

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I always enjoy Anton's books. I loved the references to the Buckingham and if it wasn't for my love of the previous books I would have given up due to the narrator. At times she did not flow from one paragraph to the next. The pauses between scenes did not allow the listener to realise that the story had moved on and then there were long pauses where there was no need. It was a shame but don't be put off by this, give it a go as it's a good story. I'm looking forward to the the book Anton, but please request another narrator.

Great story but very poor from the narrator

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I enjoyed the story but I wish that I had read the book rather than listen to the audio version. It is very badly read and I almost gave up listening.

Enjoyable story

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Enjoyable first introduction. Was a bit slow at the beginning, but I think that was caused by getting used to the new characters. Now they are known, I’m looking forward to the next instalment.

Good story

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After the last series I was looking forward to another Anton du beck book. I have tried but have not been able to finish this book. It is badly read in a false staccato voice. The characters can not be believed. It is monotonous and boring.

Very disappointing

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Not really any storyline. Somewhat self indulgent and rambling.
In parts could have been but it was difficult to follow.

Somewhat lacking

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