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The Observations

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The Observations

By: Jane Harris
Narrated by: Jane Harris
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About this listen

 Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, 2007.

In this novel, set in Scotland in 1863, Bessy Buckley attempts to escape her past by taking a job as a maid in a big house outside of Edinburgh, where she works for the beautiful Arabella. Bessy is intrigued by her new employer, but puzzled by her increasingly strange requests.

© Jane Harris; (P) Clipper Audio Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Romance Scotland Funny Witty

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Critic reviews

"Bessy's unique, witty voice distinguishes this boisterous novel." ( Booklist)"Sharp, funny and tender-hearted." ( Publishers Weekly)
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Enjoyed right through to the end, strong characters really brought to life by great reading.

Story kept me hooked, great performance

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Have just finnished listening to this book and felt compeled to write a review as I can not fault it. The naration was the best I have heard on my audible subscription. The story kept me hooked to the end and the end was very satisfing. Hope there will be another Jane Harris book to listen to.

loved it

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Not my usual type of story , but extremely well read by the author , Enjoyed the old Irish slang .

Quirky and quant

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I can recommend this audio book highly. First and foremost, it has an excellent plot, subtly told. Secondly, for me importantly in our difficult world, it introduces many themes (truly dark) which could make for very bleak reading, but keeps a light touch and the light of hope and possibilities for redemption burning. Thirdly it is laugh-out- loud funny and conveys a genuine delight in language and literacy. Fabulous - thank you, Jane Harris!

A loveable female hero

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This is, quite simply, the best book that I have purchased from Audible. The narrative of maid Bessie Buckley is a delight and is read wonderfully by the author.

Perfect

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A very well narrated book, which I listened to, with interest. Enjoyed the twists and turns of the story and was left guessing what would be next, at each chapter. ... would recommend.

Many twists and turns.... well narrated!!!

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This was an absolute pleasure to listen to - Jane Harris does a great job of capturing her characters, and Bessy's voice particularly is vivid and engaging.

At the start of this book, young Bessy Buckly, a sharp-tongued and street-smart Irish girl, is on her way to Edinburgh where she hopes to get a job in the castle. She passes a garden where a lady is trying rather hopelessly to catch a pig - it turns out that the maid has just walked out, trashing the kitchen (and letting out the pig) before she did so.

Bessy talks her way into the newly vacated position... and at this point, I thought I knew how the story was going to play out. Cunning maid, innocent mistress, and so forth.

But, although Bessy does turn out to have a shady past, nothing in this book plays out as the reader might expect. I think Jane Harris must have had great fun writing this, as the narrative leads the reader up all sorts of Gothic alleys, complete with brooding husband, hidden compartments, dark secrets and insanity.

She certainly seems to have had fun reading it, and I can't imagine anyone doing it better - certainly, Bessy's no-nonsense voice, full of earthy slang, was a delight to listen to and I am sure came over more vividly than it would have done on the page.

Perhaps the ending was slightly too neat given the twists and turns of the story before, but this was an absolute pleasure to listen to and I would recommend it to anyone. I'd probably rate the book itself 4 stars, but the audiobook 5.

I am only disappointed that Harris has not read the audiobooks of any of her other novels.

Wonderfully read

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This is one of the best read audio books I've listened to. The accents are so well done. The story is simple and quite curious, and it always left me looking forward to the next instalment from. I'd definitely recommend it.

Really well read, thoroughly enjoyable

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I loved this book.
The Observations is a brilliant and original story, told in the first person by the irrepressible Irish heroine, Bessy Buckley.
Bessy has some wonderful expressions; which are delightfully comic and create hilarious visual images. This is a book full of comedy but it is also deeply moving, dark and tragic.
The Observations is read by Jane Harris, the author. It is the best read audiobook I have listened to. The accents of the characters are wonderful, especially that of Bessy herself.
Highly recommended.

Excellent novel; brilliantly read by the author

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The story is quite an interesting premise and the characters quite good. I found the scatalogical themes/humour didn't make it an enjoyable listen.

A bit on the puerile side

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