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Freya
- Narrated by: Kim Hicks
- Length: 17 hrs and 41 mins
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Freya
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Summary
Once again Anthony Quinn shows himself a master at writing fiction that works on every level.
London, May 1945. Freya Wyley, 20, meets Nancy Holdaway, 18, amid the wild celebrations of VE Day, the prelude to a devoted and competitive friendship that will endure on and off for the next two decades. Freya, wilful, ambitious, outspoken, pursues a career in newspapers, which the chauvinism of Fleet Street and her own impatience conspire to thwart, while Nancy, gentler, less self-confident, struggles to get her first novel published.
Both friends become entangled at university with Robert Cosway, a charismatic young man whose own ambition will have a momentous bearing on their lives. Flitting from war-haunted Oxford to the bright new shallows of the 1960s, Freya plots the unpredictable course of a woman's life and loves against a backdrop of Soho pornographers, theatrical peacocks, willowy models, priapic painters, homophobic blackmailers, and political careerists.
Beneath the relentless thrum of changing times and a city being reshaped, we glimpse the eternal: the battles fought by women in pursuit of independence, the intimate mysteries of the human heart, and the search for love. Stretching from the Nuremberg war trials to the advent of the TV celebrity, from innocence abroad to bitter experience at home, Freya presents the portrait of an extraordinary woman taking arms against a sea of political and personal tumult.
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What listeners say about Freya
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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
- Abigail W.
- 31-03-16
Wonderful story, marvellous performance!
I would highly recommend this beautifully woven story. Quinn creates such beautiful characters I wish we had time to get to know all of them.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- mrs l.
- 14-05-21
loved it
can see why this is so well regarded. historical backdrop ww2 nuremberg through to 1960s. Great characters and wanted to keep hearing their stories
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- R Green
- 14-11-24
Understated but powerful
Beautifully performed by Kim Hicks, non-grating accents a refreshing bonus. A very well written and paced book that kept me hooked. Story is essentially a saga of a friendship between two women from postwar Britain through the swinging 60’s but is much more than that. Freya’s refreshing uncompromising yet highly relatable (or maybe that’s just me) character rarely makes her life easy but her self realisation develops with life events.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- cathy sales
- 27-08-16
Stunning
Characters and story so fascinating that I dreaded the end of the audiobook. Wonderful evocation of London in the 50's and 60's, very well narrated. This was my first Anthony Quinn, will download the rest of his work.
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- Philip
- 25-03-17
Loved this book!
Heard about this via Simon Mayo's book club, not always reliable for my tastes and did think it might be chick-lit-y (despite a male author). The characters, though, are beautifully drawn, particularly that of Freya herself, wonderfully self-confident though flawed, and those who surround and pass through her life. I cared about Freya, her ambitions and life and shed a tear at the (happy) end.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- LMC
- 14-02-18
Quality all round
Beautifully written and narrated..acted..with complimentary performance. Will get more from same author. Loved his evocation of the period evolving post war through to early 60s and linked by a set of individuals linked to the delightful, complex Freya.
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- g.e.pleasance
- 17-07-18
Captivating characters
Recently I have found it difficult to relate to some of the characters in books I have read. But Freya and Nancy are just so believable, they take you on a journey that is fun filled, shocking and beautiful. Their friendship is from the beginning one of resistance and strength. Freya is forthright and strident, loved deeply by those who accept her for who she is, Nancy is the soft , wise and gentle side of the relationship but as the years pass they are affected by their mutual friendship and the lines begin to meld them together, beautifully written, evocative and insightful. Just could not put the book down. A real joy.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Madho Jingree
- 14-04-24
Beautifully detailed descriptions
The plot, the dialogue and the descriptions are all wonderful. They evoke clear images and memories of both Oxford and London.
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