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Preview
  • Bluebirds

  • A Battle of Britain Novel (Bluebird Series, Book 1)
  • By: Melvyn Fickling
  • Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
  • Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (17 ratings)

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Bluebirds

By: Melvyn Fickling
Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
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Summary

Fly with Bluebird squadron in the war-torn skies of Southern England in the Battle of Britain. Follow the boys who became the men who became The Few.

A meticulously researched Battle of Britain novel based on the true stories of an East-Anglian war hero and the first American volunteer to fire guns against the Nazis, a man who became his friend and brother-in-arms.

The Battle of Britain defined the future for Britain, Europe, and America. Bluebirds tells the story of four ordinary young men who are thrown together as Hitler plunges the European continent into its darkest hours.

Andrew Francis and Gerry Donaldson were born on different sides of the Atlantic just before The Great War. Together with the mildly psychotic Bryan Hale, they fly Spitfires through the summer of 1940.

Invasion is imminent, and England faces almost certain defeat after Hitler's unstoppable armies slice through France to the Channel coast. Fighter Command risks total destruction as they rise to meet the Fuhrer's Luftwaffe hordes in what would become the Battle of Britain.

©2017 Melvyn Fickling (P)2021 Tantor
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What listeners say about Bluebirds

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

Very entertaining

I really enjoyed this book and its performance . Well worth a listen in my opinion.

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

Great stuff.

Believable characters well developed. Not your usual derring-do cobblers. Thoughtful and accurate with some more profound undertones. The whole series is great actually.

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

Enjoyable Listen

An enjoyable listen , well narrated and engaging.Would definitely recommend , very interesting subject matter handled well.

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

Realistic

The book is somewhat slow to start with, but this is just while the background of the main characters are brought to life. Once the war clouds loom, the pace quickens...as did my pulse! I love old aeroplanes and accounts of aerial campaigns, and the descriptions of flying and combat in the air are first rate. I shall be starting volume II very soon!

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

Disappointment

I had been looking forward to this but was let down.

Pretty poor, predictable plot. Though clearly very well researched it has no real feeling of authenticity. Cliched, clunky and unconvincing dialog. None of the characters are really very interesting - though the author does go to great lengths to give them background. Air combat is leaden and uninteresting (with lines pulled from the pages of a Commando magazine). Overall just not very good I’m afraid. I stopped half way through which I’ve never ever done on an audiobook in five years. Go and read the Tom Neil or Geoffrey Wellum autobiographies for a more gripping and lively - and true - account of the Battle of Britain.

Also for some reason giving all the chapters Latin names struck me as pretentious (and some of the writing is definitely ott- long words that sound clever but are just a bit awkward and out of place). I’m sorry if this is damning - perhaps just not my thing. I wish the author all the best - I know this was his first novel and the others may be better.

Narrator does a good job with the material and some convincing regional accents.

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