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Love Is Blind

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Love Is Blind

By: William Boyd
Narrated by: Roy McMillan
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About this listen

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Love is Blind by William Boyd.

Love is Blind is William Boyd's sweeping, heart-stopping new novel - set at the end of the 19th century, it follows the fortunes of Brodie Moncur, a young Scottish musician, about to embark on the story of his life.
When Brodie is offered a job in Paris, he seizes the chance to flee Edinburgh and his tyrannical clergyman father, and begin a wildly different new chapter in his life. In Paris, a fateful encounter with a famous pianist irrevocably changes his future - and sparks an obsessive love affair with a beautiful Russian soprano, Lika Blum. Moving from Paris to St Petersburg to Edinburgh and back again, Brodie's love for Lika and its dangerous consequences pursue him around Europe and beyond, during an era of overwhelming change as the 19th century becomes the 20th.

Love is Blind is a tale of dizzying passion and brutal revenge; of artistic endeavour and the illusions it creates; of all the possibilities that life can offer, and how cruelly they can be snatched away. At once an intimate portrait of one man's life and an expansive exploration of the beginning of the 20th century, Love is Blind is a masterly new novel from one of Britain's best loved storytellers.

©2018 William Boyd (P)2018 Penguin Audio
Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Romance Victorian Heartfelt Celebrity France
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What listeners say about Love Is Blind

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Boyd on Top Form

Any William Boyd novel is a big event for me and I am delighted to say that 'Love is Blind' has been well worth the wait and fully lives up to expectations. The blend of character and plot is excellent with a sweeping narrative that convincingly depicts time and place. The research really pays off. For me, as a listener, the quality of the narrator can make or break a book and whereas, 'Sweet Caress' was (to my ear) unlistenable Roy McMillan has done an impeccable job with 'Love is Blind'. He has all the warmth, depth, empathy and authority required to bring this impressive novel to life. I did not want it to end.

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18 people found this helpful

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Typical Boyd

Loved the characters and the plot. How does he make the adventures of a piano tuner compulsive reading? The narrator was excellent. I couldn’t fault it.

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Love William Boyd novels

Full of interest and insight into human nature, great stories with, broad scope and superb use of vocabulary. He is a brilliant writer.

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Story in the title

Well written powerful story of the importance of moments in time. The intensity of emotion possible obsession and cruelty of circumstance in people’s lives.

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We see very little when we want to.


This is not my usual taste in books but it was written by William Boyd, and that makes it something I would explore. I was not disappointed.

The story is a beautiful period piece that describes time and places in a beautiful way and develops a plot and characters you naturally care for; Brodie Moncur became real and his travels and period became alive, and his fictitious life was real for a few spackling hours.

A definite yes, if you like good writing and something delicate.

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Excellent

Great story, beautifully written and very entertainingly read by Roy McMillan (whose narration of my - coincidentally- previous book, The Second Sleep, impressed me more than Robert Harris’ now obligatory anti-climactic ending).
Love is Blind is enthralling and William Boyd constructs his story beautifully, as ever. This isn’t as perfect a novel as Any Human Heart (which is one of my favourite novels of the last 50 years), and I’m still not sure how much I warmed to the protagonist (despite Roy McMillan’s best efforts to inject him with an endearing voice), but ignore this book at your peril.

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classic William Boyd

Excellent characterization and attention to detail. You can so easily get drawn into his novels. the performance was superb and added greatly to the pleasure of the book.

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beautifully crafted story

Superb narration. Beautifully written as always by the talented W Boyd. I did find myself sighing a little with some if the long winded explanations and reflections......but that might be just me.

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Beautiful

A wonderful tale of love loss and revenge, very enjoyable and beautifully paced, a classic.

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Excellent - would highly recommend.

Boyd is one of my favourite authors and this book does not disappoint. It was made especially wonderful by the great narrator. So skilled.

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