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Magpie Lane

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Magpie Lane

By: Lucy Atkins
Narrated by: Susie Riddell
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About this listen

When the eight-year-old daughter of an Oxford College Master vanishes in the middle of the night, police turn to the Scottish nanny, Dee, for answers.

As Dee looks back over her time in the Master's Lodging - an eerie and ancient house - a picture of a high achieving but dysfunctional family emerges: Nick, the fiercely intelligent and powerful father; his beautiful Danish wife Mariah, pregnant with their child; and the lost little girl, Felicity, almost mute, seeing ghosts, grieving her dead mother.

But is Dee telling the whole story? Is her growing friendship with the eccentric house historian, Linklater, any cause for concern? And most of all, why was Felicity silent?

Roaming Oxford's secret passages and hidden graveyards, Magpie Lane explores the true meaning of family - and what it is to be denied one.

©2020 Lucy Atkins (P)2020 Quercus Editions Limited Detective Mystery Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Fiction Exciting Scary Highlander

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Critic reviews

"Enthralling...creepy and compelling." (The Times)

"Deliciously dark." (Alexandra Shulman)

"A gorgeously satisfying triumph." (Lucy Mangan)
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keeps you guessing, chapter after chapter. Sensational writing. leaves you wanting to visit magpie lane.

A true page turner

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This book started well and the writing is fair but the actual story becomes predictable, then unrealistic and ridiculous.
The narrator is excellent.

Totally Unrealistic

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Like a lot of books, this starts well and draws you into the plot but, in the end, mute child, dreaming spires and evil posh people just wears a bit thin. It's not helped by the reader who makes the central character sound about 75 and incredibly angry and dour throughout, which is probably not the author's intention since she's a love interest. As so often with thrillers, the plot gets silly and embarrassing rather than more exciting. I mean, look, it's hard, and this is well structured with the police interviews and the retrospect. But, in the end, meh.

Great at first but then got silly not chilling

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I loved this, I was gripped from the beginning . A clever plot and great narration too

great plot and narration

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This is such a well crafted, carefully told story; compelling and utterly addictive - I listened to it in two days! Fantastic narration with brilliant accents added to the whole listening experience.
Highly recommended.

Fantastic!

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Brilliant do not pass this one by! By far the best novel I have listened to this year.

A JEM OF A FIND

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Slightly slow start but i had to remind myself to breathe for the last few chapters. Absolutely compelling.

Brilliant

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loved it. Eery mystery / crime thriller. with an unreliable narrator you can't stop but feel empathy for.

Wonderful storytelling, suspenseful crime/thriller

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Another gripping story from Lucy Atkins, beautifully read by Susie Riddell. As someone who studied maths at Oxford, it has a special resonance for me. It captured the arcane life of senior college staff. I have worked with students who have selective mutism and the description of Felicity's behaviour was sensitively handled.

Another gripping story from Lucy Atkins

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This was so good, it hooked me right from the beginning, as Dee the nanny revealed more about her time in Oxford with this dysfunctional family.
I liked Dee, although I wasn’t too sure if I should like her, as she came across as was quite a cold person, although not towards Felicity. She really cared for her and took her job as the nanny very seriously.
I liked Mariah at first, mostly to do with Susie Riddell’s portrayal of her which was just brilliant. I loved her accent and enthusiasm. I must confess I was horrified at what she was doing to the house though, and couldn’t understand that someone who was involved with restoration would blatantly change a listed building. I didn’t like Nick, Felicity’s father, he was not a nice character at all, so entitled and arrogant.
I really liked Linklater the house detective who took Dee and Felicity around some of Oxford’s old graveyards. He was a very interesting character who seemed friendly enough and Felicity really liked him.
I felt very sorry for Felicity but she also spooked me especially when Dee was describing her night terrors! I loved how she developed throughout the story as Dee cared for her and also opened up about her own past.
I had so many questions going through my head as I was listening to this. Why was Felicity reluctant to speak? What exactly happened to Felicity’s mother? How did she die? Why didn’t Nick and Mariah pay more attention to Felicity? Why were they so keen to hire Dee as their nanny when they knew so little about her? Why was Dee holding back certain information from the police? I could go on but I think I’ll be giving some of the plot away.
Oxford was a wonderful setting, I loved hearing familiar place names that I used to know so well. I learnt lots about the city and some of it’s very famous residents, Tolkien in particular. I also learnt where the nursery rhyme Goosey Goosey Gander came from!
Susie Riddell, a new-to-me narrator was superb. I particularly enjoyed her portrayal of Dee and Mariah. I’m definitely adding her to my favourite narrators list!
Highly recommended!

Superb!

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