Undue Influence
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Narrated by:
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Diana Quick
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By:
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Anita Brookner
About this listen
Undue Influence is the 19th novel by Anita Brookner, the Booker Prize-winning author of Hotel du Lac.
Enigmatic Claire is 30 and lives alone. When she meets Martin Gibson, a faded scholar, she becomes inordinately interested. She is even more interested when she meets his wife, a far more spectacular personality. But the unexpected news of this woman's death releases emotions that were not entirely foreseen.
Anita Brookner was born in South London in 1928, the daughter of a Polish immigrant family. She trained as an art historian and worked at the Courtauld Institute of Art until her retirement in 1988. She published her first novel, A Start in Life, in 1981 and her 24th, Strangers, in 2009. As well as fiction, Anita Brookner has published a number of volumes of art criticism.
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Beautiful, sophisticated and endlessly ambitious Lily Bart endeavours to climb the social ladder of New York's elite by securing a good match and living beyond her means. Now nearing 30 years of age and having rejected several proposals, forever in the hope of finding someone better, her future prospects are threatened. A damning commentary of 20th-century social order, Edith Wharton's tale established her as one of the greatest British novelists of the 1900s.
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Like Henry James but more accessible
- By Merlin on 08-19-12
By: Edith Wharton
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The Museum of Innocence
- By: Orhan Pamuk, Maureen Freely (translator)
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 20 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Kemal, scion of one of the city's wealthiest families, is about to become engaged to Sibel, daughter of another prominent family, when he encounters Füsun, a beautiful shopgirl and a distant relation. Once the long-lost cousins violate the code of virginity, a rift begins to open between Kemal and the world of the Westernized Istanbul bourgeosie - a world, as he lovingly describes it, with opulent parties and clubs, society gossip, picnics, and mansions on the Bosphorus, infused with the melancholy of decay.
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one of the very best I've ever heard
- By Rebecca Lindroos on 03-06-10
By: Orhan Pamuk, and others
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Jennie Gerhardt
- A Novel
- By: Theodore Dreiser
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Jennie Gerhardt is the tragic story of an innocent, caring, beautiful young girl from an extremely poor family who throughout her life is drawn into affairs with two different men from a much higher social class. How members of her family, the family of one of the wealthy men, and society in general react to her situation is the basis of this classic story.
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Need a pick me up.
- By knvmxi on 05-15-16
By: Theodore Dreiser
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The Ladies of Rosings Park
- A Pride and Prejudice Sequel and Companion to The Darcys of Pemberley
- By: Shannon Winslow
- Narrated by: Marian Hussey
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Chapter by chapter, these ladies of Rosings Park take turns telling the tale from the moment Elizabeth Bennet sets foot in Hunsford, changing everything. Is Anne heartbroken or relieved to discover Mr. Darcy will never marry her? As an heiress, even a sickly one, she must have other suitors. Does Lady Catherine gracefully accept the defeat of her original plan or keep conniving? Will Anne’s health ever improve? And what really happened to her father?
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NOT Jane Austen
- By susan on 03-02-19
By: Shannon Winslow
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Outline
- Outline, Book 1
- By: Rachel Cusk
- Narrated by: Kristin Scott Thomas
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Outline is a novel in 10 conversations. Spare and lucid, it follows a novelist teaching a course in creative writing over an oppressively hot summer in Athens. She leads her student in storytelling exercises. She meets other writers for dinner. She goes swimming in the Ionian Sea with her seatmate from the place. The people she encounters speak volubly about themselves, their fantasies, anxieties, pet theories, regrets and longings. And through these disclosures, a portrait of the narrator is drawn by contrast, a portrait of a woman learning to face great a great loss.
By: Rachel Cusk
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3 Classic Novels
- Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Giuliano, The Spire
- Length: 36 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Welcome to the world of Jane Austen, one of the most beloved authors in the English language. Austen's works are known for their wit, social commentary, and romantic storylines that have captivated readers for generations.
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Classic Novels are the best.
- By Maureen Hart on 09-07-23
By: Jane Austen
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Shadows of a Princess
- By: Patrick Jephson
- Narrated by: Patrick Jephson
- Length: 19 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Reissued for the 20th anniversary of Diana's death, this sensational best seller is an explosive account of her life, from the man who was by her side throughout its most turbulent period. In 1981 Lady Diana Spencer was seen by many as a lifeline for the outdated Windsor line. But Diana didn't follow the script. Instead she brought a revolution. Patrick Jephson was Diana's closest aide and adviser during her years of greatest public fame and deepest personal crisis.
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Honest and balanced Diana account
- By Karla Huntsman on 06-09-18
By: Patrick Jephson
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Wives and Daughters
- By: Elizabeth Gaskell
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 25 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in English society before the 1832 Reform Bill, Wives and Daughters centers on the story of youthful Molly Gibson, brought up from childhood by her father. When he remarries, a new stepsister enters Molly's quiet life, the loveable, but worldly and troubling, Cynthia. The narrative traces the development of the two girls into womanhood within the gossiping and watchful society of Hollingford.
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It's not about the ending!
- By Sandra on 07-25-05
What listeners say about Undue Influence
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- David P
- 08-18-16
An Affair that
Like many of Brookner's novels, this one is about a woman struggling to recover from her relationship with a selfish and demanding mother. There's a best friend, a job at a bookstore, a few deaths, lots of walking in the park and coffee, and a relationship with a man that is important but passionless.
The book offers the listener hours of impeccably crafted sentences (although the word "anodyne" --a favorite of Brookner--appears a few too many times) and beautifully shrewd, unsparing insights into characters' behavior and psychologies. The climax of the novel revolves around a dream, something I found disappointing. But if you're reading for plot, you would never pick up Brookner to begin with. I found the beginning and end slow, the middle fantastic and gripping. Brookner has a singular talent for imbuing minor events and dull routine with psychological peril. It's the fifteenth novel of hers I've read. I'm a devoted fan and in awe of her large and peculiar oeuvre, even if some of her books disappoint around the edges.
Diana Quick has a gorgeous voice and is an actress of exceptional restraint and power. She's best known for her star turn in Brideshead Revisited back in the early 1980's. Her tone is rich, and she communicates intelligence and (appropriately) traces of melancholy and regret. On the other hand, her voice is that of a mature woman (she's in her late 60's) and Claire, the first-person narrator, is a smart but somewhat immature 29-year-old. In that sense, I found her an odd choice as performer for this particular novel.
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5 people found this helpful
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- A. Everett
- 03-03-24
I wish I hadn’t spent so much time listening
This book is a slow-moving, repetitive portrait of a lonely, self-involved woman named Claire Pitt. I almost gave up on it mid-way, and now I rather wish I had, since both the pacing and the content of Claire's internal monologues left me frustrated to the point of depression. The prose is elegant but, like the main character, feels stifled. While I can admire the author's technique, it isn't a read I enjoyed.
I might have had less trouble with the slow pacing of this audiobook if the narrator hadn't been so wrong for the role. Though Diana Quick was talented at altering her speech and accent for dialogue, her baseline voice seemed much too old for the main character, who is supposed to be only 29. Perhaps I could have more easily overlooked Claire's missteps and judgmental attitudes if the narrator's voice hadn't sounded so much older and more jaded.
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