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  • The Whalebone Theatre

  • By: Joanna Quinn
  • Narrated by: Olivia Vinall
  • Length: 18 hrs and 23 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (774 ratings)
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The Whalebone Theatre cover art

The Whalebone Theatre

By: Joanna Quinn
Narrated by: Olivia Vinall
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Summary

Brought to you Penguin.

'Maudie, why are all the best characters men?'

Maudie closes the book with a clllump. 'We haven't read all the books yet, Miss Cristabel. I can't believe that every story is the same.'

Cristabel Seagrave has always wanted her life to be a story, but there are no girls in the books in her dusty family library. For an unwanted orphan who grows into an unmarriageable young woman, there is no place at all for her in a traditional English manor.

But from the day that a whale washes up on the beach at the Chilcombe estate in Dorset, and 12-year-old Cristabel plants her flag and claims it as her own, she is determined to do things differently.

With her step-parents blithely distracted by their endless party guests, Cristabel and her siblings, Flossie and Digby, scratch together an education from the plays they read in their freezing attic, drunken conversations eavesdropped through oak-panelled doors, and the esoteric lessons of Maudie their maid.

But as the children grow to adulthood and war approaches, jolting their lives on to very different tracks, it becomes clear that the roles they are expected to play are no longer those they want. As they find themselves drawn into the conflict, they must each find a way to write their own story....

©2022 Joanna Quinn (P)2022 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about The Whalebone Theatre

Average customer ratings
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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

So glad i took a chance on this one!

Beautifully written story and outstanding narration , A compelling and easy listen, best book ive listened too in a long time!

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14 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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2nd time listening and enjoyed it even more

This book is awesome! The descriptions are beautiful and the characters so good that I don’t want to leave them behind.
I read it when it first came out but decided to listen again, this time I seemed to enjoy the characters even more and really appreciate the incredible description throughout. It’s the best book I’ve read for a long time!

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12 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Patchy

Some attractive writing in the first half of this book. Childhoods in idyllic settings etc. The writer gets tired of her characters and bumps them off or simply leaves them out of the text, after that. The story is over long and does not hang together. It is really a story about being in France in WW2 as an undercover agent and includes some very graphic writing about killing a man and ditching his body. This came as literally a horrible surprise since up till then there was no gratuitous gruesome stuff. I dont know why the hero has to be so perfect either. The theatre idea is nice to begin with but again, author just forgets about it apart from some quick references. It is nothing to do with whales or theatres really. It's rather posh people doing what they always do.

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8 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Ohh! I loved this book!

A jewel of an enchanting book. Tender and funny. Sad and imaginative. I think I loved Flossie best.

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8 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Most tedious book in a while!

I saw this book in the queen’s reading room (Camilla) she recommends some good ones. The book starts really well and I thought it was going to be a modern classic family saga. However, as soon as the children are born, it quickly turns into a “children’s story” incredibly boring about their performances in their own theatre. Very pedantic too…I’ve never in my life seen young children discussing Homer or ballet. I think it tries to be clever and put the family across as eccentric, but in my opinion the author fails to achieve this and the book is as tedious as it gets. I haven’t warmed to any of the characters. I’ve given up after 3 hours of listening, life’s too short, just annoyed I’ve wasted my monthly credit on this book.

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6 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not what I expected...

I just didn't fall in love with this book. I couldn't ever quite decide whether it was one story or another. The narration was too monotonous for me, too. I stuck with it but only because of my own sheer stubbornness 🤣

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The best family saga in years

I cannot believe this is a first novel. The characters develop so individually over the long stretch of years that you want to know what happens to each of them.

Beautifully read.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Be prepared for late nights

Due to the unputdownable story and the fabulous narrative. Kept me gripped and so enjoyed something a bit different for a change. Bought this ready for my holiday but now have to start another search as I couldn’t stop listening……

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Heaven

I loved this book from the first page. Such lovely characters and soothing to listen to.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A brilliant and engrossing book

This is now one of my all time favourite books, rich in characters and scenes delivered with extraordinary, evocative writing. The narration is wonderful too.

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1 person found this helpful