Pure escapism and great fun

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I've usually enjoyed reading Wendy Holden's books as lighthearted relaxation but there's no doubt a few of them have crossed the line from fun to nonsense. I chose this for my first audio version as Wendy's back on form with this. There's a good mix of characters, plenty of humour but some real pathos with the triangular relationship of Catherine, the newly appointed village school headmistress, Philip,a young widowed solicitor locked into his own sad world and the vulnerable and defensive young fostered Sam, already a veteran of a genuinely hard life at the age of 8. The gloriously awful WAG Alexandra is a riot, and the supporting cast including the American weekenders and Mary and Monty, the penniless stately home owners, are varied and funny, but the star of the show has to be the purple trousered eco-warrior monster Morag, from whom I think even Swampy himself would run in terror. Take all these people, give them plots on a new community allotment, throw in the earth-closet from hell and a few Roman coins and you've got the makings of some great car journeys if like me you listen whilst commuting. Jilly Bond's reading seemed a bit bland at first but as the book progressed the characters came to alive. Really liked this one, I'll try more.

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1 person found this helpful

Lovely story.

A nice story by Wendy Holden. I really like the narrator, however I don't think her voice is suited to this book. Her voices seem a lot older than the intended age of the characters, and many seem annoying, and the male voices are cringeworthy. But I still really like her voice, I believe she would be better used elsewhere.

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A read full of humour and heartache

fun engaging story with a great ensemble of characters but the end felt hurried yet somewhat unexpected.

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Amusing

This is set in Derbyshire where I live and as an allotment holder myself, I enjoyed this audio. The Characters were so different from each other from all different walks of life, so it was interesting how they all come together taking on allotment life. Good !

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Filthy Rich

Lots of charactors - so lots of voices which take some getting used to, funny in places, nice story, I enjoyed this.

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funny

I loved this book,it made me laugh out loud in places,the night time moving of the eco-toilet and finding the treasure was hilarious.Jilly bond did an excellent job of narrating this book and portraying its many characters.

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