Free Love
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Free Love
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Narrated by:
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Abigail Thaw
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By:
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Tessa Hadley
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
From Tessa Hadley, best-selling author of Late in the Day and The Past, comes a compulsive new novel about one woman's sexual and intellectual awakening in 1960s London.
1967. While London comes alive with the new youth revolution, the suburban Fischer family seems to belong to an older world of conventional stability: pretty, dutiful homemaker Phyllis is married to Roger, a devoted father with a career in the Foreign Office. Their children are Colette, a bookish teenager, and Hugh, the golden boy.
But when the 20-something son of an old friend pays the Fischers a visit one hot summer evening, and kisses Phyllis in the dark garden after dinner, something in her catches fire. Newly awake to the world, Phyllis makes a choice that defies all expectations of her as a wife and a mother. Nothing in these ordinary lives is so ordinary after all, it turns out, as the family's upheaval mirrors the dramatic transformation of the society around them.
With scalpel-sharp insight, Tessa Hadley explores her characters' inner worlds, laying bare their fears and longings. Daring and sensual, Free Love is a compulsive, irresistible exploration of romantic love, sexual freedom and living out the truest and most meaningful version of our lives.
©2022 Tessa Hadley (P)2022 Penguin AudioCritic reviews
"She has such great psychological insights into human beings, which is rare. She is one of the best fiction writers writing today." (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
"Tessa Hadley recruits admirers with each book. She writes with authority, and with delicacy: she explores nuance, but speaks plainly; she is one of those writers a reader trusts." (Hilary Mantel)
What listeners say about Free Love
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- a lisa
- 11-12-23
heartbreaking chronicle
a heartbreaking chronicle, set in the late 1960s, about the tangled lives of a group of people living in England, all more or less friends and acquaintances, all linked by their errors, as the story bounces from one person to another, revealing more of the true nature of the characters, their past and their present, all the while underlining them as quintessentially British in their attitudes, as they collide with each other. critical, but in a delicate, matter of fact way.
the performance was great, i thought the tone of the voice and the accent were very much suited, and supported the book well.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- discerning reader
- 26-07-23
Beautifully narrated
I could have listened to this voice forever and it gave credibility to an unusual story. Loved that the plot wasn't obvious and found it quite compelling. Very enjoyable.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- MS P.
- 03-01-23
An Easy Listen
I probably enjoyed this book as it is of my era. Some of the descriptions bringing back memories of how life was then. Worth a listen.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 23-09-22
Sedate look at relationships
Quite a slow burner of a novel, but enough character depth to keep it going. Plot is fairly simple although there was one part I wasn’t expecting! Nice sedate listen on different relationships and a bit of a foray into 1960s London.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ms Berghard
- 28-02-23
A gentle delight
I’m surprised at the 4 out of fives. Closer to 5 for me. Its subtle, certainly, but that’s part of its charm. It’s gentle exploration of society, convention and love is thought-provoking.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- taptoflow
- 01-03-22
I chose this book based on the raving reviews
it received. I quite enjoyed the atmospheric descriptions of Ladbroke Grove in the late 60s once we get there. The moral dilemmas of petty bourgois suburbans and their views in the sixties are irrelevant these days. The family twist felt contrived and rather blown up to larger proportions than it would have deserved. Some of the characters are unrealistic. I didn't mind finishing it, it was pleasant enough easy listening but the raving reviews are a mystery to me. A disappointment.
Love Abigail Thaw's voice but while a bad reader can ruin a good book, a great reader can't save a mediocre one.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Henry Ves
- 23-05-22
bit too descriptive
Story was ok , a bit politically correct . Poor Hugh though :-( .
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