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Unsettled Ground
- Narrated by: Rachel Bavidge
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
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Unsettled Ground
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Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
Winner of The Costa Novel Award 2021.
Shortlisted for The Women's Prize 2021.
When you live on the edge of society, it only takes one step to fall between the cracks.
Twins Jeanie and Julius have always been different from other people. At 51 years old, they still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation and poverty. Inside the walls of their old cottage, they make music, and in the garden they grow (and sometimes kill, everything they need for sustenance.
But when Dot dies suddenly, threats to their livelihood start raining down. Jeanie and Julius would do anything to preserve their small sanctuary against the perils of the outside world, even as their mother's secrets begin to unravel, putting everything they thought they knew about their lives at stake.
Unsettled Ground is a heart-stopping novel of betrayal and resilience, love and survival. It is a portrait of life on the fringes of society that explores with dazzling emotional power how we can build our lives on broken foundations and spin light from darkness.
Critic reviews
"Her strongest yet...a powerful, beautiful novel that shows us our land as it really is: a place of shelter and cruelty, innocence and experience." (The Times)
"A relevant and powerful exploration of isolation and life on the fringes of society." (Clare Mackintosh, author of Hostage)
"An atmospheric thriller that's both heart-breaking and heart-warming." (Red)
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What listeners say about Unsettled Ground
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jackie
- 04-05-21
enjoyable listen
enjoyed listening .Well written . would listen to more by this author and good narration
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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
- bookylady
- 27-04-21
Sad but enjoyable
It took me a little while to get into this tale of 51 year old twins who have lived a sheltered life with their mother. They have lived with stories (ultimately lies) about the death of their father and the role of their landlord in that death. But when their mother dies their safe, sheltered but poverty-driven life is thrown into disarray. The twins uncover debts and mysteries which shock them; their mother has taught them to live on little money, not to incur debts or favours and not to trust people. They don’t even have a bank account. They have few life or social skills and when they discover there is practically no money ‘in the jar’ they have no idea what to do or how will they will pay for a funeral.
This is a well told and beautifully crafted story about how ‘small lives’ are important and how people can befriend each other, help one another and ultimately help others to survive. It is also the story of arrested development, the effects of bullies on the shy and the unfortunate, illiteracy, sexual frustration and the stubborn will of some people to survive in desperate circumstances.
There is a shocking, sickening twist making this one of the saddest stories I have read in a long time. But there are also uplifting, heartening aspects and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a challenging read. Lovely, sympathetic narration too.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 01-08-21
A very disturbing book
Perhaps it was hearing this book, rather than reading it that gave me such a negative feeling about the protagonists of the story. I was exasperated by the absolutely can’t do attitude of both the twins to so many normal aspects of everyday life… even their inability to accept help, either state or personal.., choosing to live hand to mouth and questioning nothing.
Then the reasons unfold, a story of secrets & lies… a very disturbing book. Perhaps a back story of their appalling mother might have explained a lot.
The narration is very annoying and was a negative for me.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 12-03-22
Left me feeling very conflicted...
There's no doubting the quality of the writing or the detailed insight into the grindingly difficult lives of the twins in this novel, but there's such rich detail, I felt a voyeur into the lives of Jeanie and Julius, and at times, found that a very uncomfortable place to be.
The setting and the characters made a refreshing change - people on the margins of society and their treatment by others, (accurate, well-judged and rooted in reality) but lots of the plot points were predicable once the premise was evident, and the plot unfolded at a frustratingly slow pace.
I stuck with it, hoping things would move along but completed it, sad that such lives are written about for entertainment.
I experienced a real literary event, but ended up feeling that Jeanie and Julius would have resented my involvement in their lives. It's certainly one to read or listen to only when you're feeling resilient. It felt to me like a modern day Thomas Hardy - set somewhere rural but where getting through life is tough and the main characters are going to suffer one life-changing knock-back after another.
There's nothing uplifting in this story. Frustrations with the characters and the plot endure until the end, but the writer's capacity to describe the lives of the twins truly remarkable.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Catherine Pash
- 03-04-22
A fabulous unique novel
Having read this novel I think Jeanie and Julius will stay with me for the rest of my life. This novel is sometimes a very hard sad read but the prose carried me away to another world while leaving me incredibly grateful that it wasn’t a world nor a life that I inhabited. The characters in this novel are so alive, the tiny details of their lives and struggles are intimately described. The plot is woven so gently but the story Carrie’s you along and is hard to put down. This was a fantastic read.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ms. G. M. Mayhew
- 06-04-22
Vary poorly narrated
It sounded as though the narrator was reading the text for the first time. The stress was all wrong and some sentences sounded as though they had been dropped in afterwards. The poor performance made me abandon the book.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lou
- 12-09-21
Captivating story, slightly robotic narration
Was hooked to the story quite early on, good pace and character development. Narration took time to get used to but enjoyed the West Country accents.
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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
- Dog Walker Sussex
- 10-05-21
Truly amazing book.
This story will stay with me now that I've finished it. The writing brilliantly brings to life the desperation and poverty of this couple. I was gripped all the way through and will now look for more from this author. it was wonderfully narrated too.
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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
- sg
- 24-05-21
A story of the neglected people in society
This was such a quiet story the hero’s were the un-noticed and powerless ignored in our busy world. I was completely drawn in by the beautiful writing I was there in the cottage and along the journey, the characters struggles to survive were compelling...amazing highly recommended
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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
- Jane Backeberg
- 03-04-22
Pleasant enough
A sweet enough if slightly implausible story. Well-narrated and with likeable characters. Easy listening.
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