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Bournville
- Narrated by: Peter Caulfield, Cara Horgan
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
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Bournville
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Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
From the bestselling, award-winning author of Middle England comes a profoundly moving, brutally funny and brilliantly true portrait of Britain told through four generations of one family.
In Bournville, a placid suburb of Birmingham, sits a famous chocolate factory. For eleven-year-old Mary and her family in 1945, it's the centre of the world. The reason their streets smell faintly of chocolate, the place where most of their friends and neighbours have worked for decades. Mary will go on to live through the Coronation and the World Cup final, royal weddings and royal funerals, Brexit and Covid-19. She'll have children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Parts of the chocolate factory will be transformed into a theme park, as modern life and the city crowd in on their peaceful enclave.
As we travel through seventy-five years of social change, from James Bond to Princess Diana, and from wartime nostalgia to the World Wide Web, one pressing question starts to emerge: will these changing times bring Mary's family - and their country - closer together, or leave them more adrift and divided than ever before?
Bournville is a rich and poignant novel from the bestselling, Costa award-winning author of Middle England. It is the story of a woman, of a nation's love affair with chocolate, of Britain itself.
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Critic reviews
"A wickedly funny, clever, but also tender and lyrical novel about Britain and Britishness and what we have become." (Rachel Joyce)
What listeners say about Bournville
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
- Amazon Customer
- 18-12-22
Fantastic
This is a brilliant book by Jonathon Coe. The narration is spot. I agree with the review in the Financial Times - which heaps praise on Peter Caulfield and Cara Horgan. Sublime
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- vandra costello
- 08-06-23
I love this writer
Fantastic book Jonathan Coe writes so well. Really moving story. Narration not very good, mispronunciation & other irritating tics. Have hard copy so that helped.
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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
- Mr M Chandler
- 20-01-24
Covid in its awful reality -you cnn not be unmoved
I found this book extremely moving mirroring so many of the emotions I experienced at that rime
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dr C Ford
- 03-06-23
Excellent book
So pleased I was recommended this book by friend - it was wonderful in all ways
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark Withers
- 28-04-23
Beautiful narrative of post-war Britain
I loved the gentle cadences of this story that takes us on a journey with a family from VE Day to the Covid lockdown. It’s clever. It’s beautifully written and it weaves its way through the significant moments of 75years of British history.
Some might find looking in the mirror of English attitudes and social norms uncomfortable. For me, having lived through a good number of the key moments, it was a wonderful way to reflect on those times with the benefit of perspective.
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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
- Miss S Ashton
- 15-10-23
Absolutely loved this book
Brilliantly written. Very thoughtful. Funny. You continue to think about the book after finishing it.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 03-02-23
Good story terrible narration
I’m a bit fan of Jonathan Coe and enjoyed hearing familiar names from his other novels pop in. The story was enjoyable overall but some sections which would probably have been skimmed through in a paper copy were quite dreary to sit through in this audiobook. The fear of missing a vital piece of information prevented me from skipping on. The biggest let down was the narrator. Mispronounced words throughout were distracting and infuriating, and the one small section narrated by a different person seemed completely unnecessary. Having stuck through it to the end I’m glad I did, but I will be glad not to have to hear the dreary voice of the reader any more!
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3 people 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
- karen Swan
- 18-01-23
Wonderful
Massive fan of mr Coe …beautiful writing
I’ve read the book and not disappointed with the audio book xxx
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- exile71
- 03-08-24
Good premise but rather dull.
Halfway through and I‘m only going to finish this to listen to something while on long walks. The idea of hanging a family saga to key events in British society is really interesting but the family are just dull. I was also expecting Bournville itself to play a bigger role. I was so looking forward to this, having been recommended in a podcast and reading the glowing reviews but it’s just boring. On the plus side I didn’t mind the narration as much as other reviewers. Sorry!
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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
- Kindle Customer Fran
- 06-12-22
Excellent!
Brilliant narrator made me laugh out loud when impersonating various radio and tv presenters. Jonathan Coe's books might be fiction but he writes a pretty accurate social history of how England has sunk so low. Particularly the scurrilous behaviour of the British Government . Very depressing but nevertheless an excellent read.
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