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War Brides

By: Helen Bryan
Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
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Summary

As war moves ever closer, the sleepy English village of Crowmarsh Priors settles into a new sort of normal: Evacuees from London are billeted in local homes. The nightly German air raids become grimly mundane. Rationing curtails every comfort. Men leave to fight and die. And five women forge a bond of friendship that will change their lives forever in this engrossing novel of loyalty, loss, and love in the shadow of World War II.

With the hardships of war intensifying every day, the women band together to defeat formidable enemies and find remarkable strength within themselves to help one another. It is a war-forged loyalty certain to endure years and distance. When four of the women return for a celebration 50 years later, their mission is not simply to commemorate or remember. They’ve returned to confront a traitor whose actions cost countless lives — and to avenge one of their own at last.

©2011 Heley Bryan (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
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What listeners say about War Brides

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

a great read

this book is based around 5 female characters who were all very different, but yet easy to like them all. a great plot and well written to keep me involved in the story and what happened next. Would recommend as an easy page turner read

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Drop the accents

Good story but since when did east end Londoners have West Country lilting accents?! It started to confuse and irritate me which spoiled the story - maybe the reader should have just read the story and not tried to do accents 🙄

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A story that turns into a spy story.

Excellent book, had to re listen several times and kept thinking that bit wasn't there last time I listened!!! Not so sure about the reader, she pronounces some words most oddly. A plait of hair is not pronounced like plate but like flat. Very unusual spy story I had never thought of water as a guide to aircraft but now it is so obvious. I really recommend this book.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

excellent story.

loved it, very nicely packaged storyline, bringing all the strands together very well. Tells the story of WW2, from a female perspective, a very refreshing and unexpected approach.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Really enjoyable story

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and glad I stuck with it. However, I hate to say anything derogatory about narrators because I think they do a fantastic job, but this one - oh dear, she is obbviously American and her own accent was fine. Her english accents were dreadful, so much so, that if the story had not been enjoyable I would have given up. It was a shame really if she had just read it in her own accent all the way through it would probably have been better.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Amusing accent

I've just started listening to this book (my first audio book) in my car, and it's making the daily commute a lot more pleasant. I have to echo many of the other comments about the narration though, it is pretty bad to the point of being funny. They definitely don't talk with a Bristol twang in Sussex, in fact it even sounded a bit Irish at one point today, much to my amusement. The German speaking Tanni occasionally sounds Japanese, and I wish that Americans would steer clear of cockney accents. That said, it hasn't put me off, far from it as I am enjoying the story, and now looking for more audio books to help make my journey less onerous.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The readers voices

The reader's performance let this book down. I disliked the silly voices and awful accents. The story was good

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Poor Narration Good Story

What did you like most about War Brides?

The story was good and that is the only reason I kept going, the narration was comic - simple English words like "fete" pronounced as fet amongst a host of other words poorly pronounced.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters were interesting and varied

Would you be willing to try another one of Tavia Gilbert’s performances?

I think an American trying to impersonate a cockney accent was probably too much for this narrator

Any additional comments?

It would be nice if the narrators actually researched how to pronounce basic English words, overall the narration was laughable

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderfully evocative book

My grandmother and her sisters were evacuated from Bethnal Green during the war so I grew up with similar stories of rationing and and hardship. However the full range of the women’s stories are much wider and more poignant. Laughed, cried, swore, smiled. Beautiful book, expertly woven and read perfectly.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great Story, just ignore the bizarre accents

I had to persevere a little at the beginning but turned out to be a great story.

Really not sure why the narrator is American when most of the book is full of different British accents. There are some truly bizarre interpretations of certain accents peppered with American pronunciations. However, the narration is smooth and at a good pace.

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