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A Civil Contract

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A Civil Contract

By: Georgette Heyer
Narrated by: Dominic Thorburn
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Adam Deveril, the new Viscount Lynton and a hero at Salamanca, returns from the Peninsula War to find his family on the brink of ruin and the broad acres of his ancestral home mortgaged to the hilt. It is Lord Oversley, father of Adam's first love, who tactfully introduces him to Mr Jonathan Chaleigh, a city man of apparently unlimited wealth with no social ambitions for himself, but with his eyes firmly fixed on a suitable match for his one and only daughter.

For more than 50 years Georgette Heyer brought romance and adventure to a wordwide audience, and Civil Contract shows how she continues to be loved today.

©1961 Georgette Heyer (P)2021 Penguin Audio Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Regency Regency Romance Romance
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A richly peopled story - Heyer really commits to themes of envy and passion vs practical, more ordinary love. It also made me laugh!

Heyer's tribute to Austen

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Nice and long, with good characterisation and a sufficiently undulating plot. Reader has a pleasant voice and style, despite pronunciation mistakes. A good value purchase.

Solid story, pleasant voice - good value purchase

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i enjoyed the unfolding of character of our heroine. Her vulgar but well meaning father was hilarious. Heyer masterfully conveyed the trivialites of family life affectionately. i also enjoyed the interweaving ofthe

Not your usual love story

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Set against the background of the battle of Waterloo, this is a story of blighted dreams and enduring affection. Adam Deverill, the new Viscount Linton, an officer recalled from Wellington’s army, finds himself facing ruin and the loss of his family’s home on the sudden death of his father. His marriage to an heiress enables him to start rebuilding the family fortunes but without the love of his life, the lovely Julia, whose loss haunts him. Reality, in the shape of family and saving his property, gives him purpose and he finds new avenues for satisfaction and ultimately a new love.
Dominic Thorburn gives a good reading and captures the drama of the story well however he is far better at capturing the male voices than those of the females who all sound much the same. An enjoyable recording.

A marriage of convenience

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A lovely well researched story, with wonderful characters. Another great story from Georgette Heyer. Excellent!

A lovely well researched story

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This is probably my all time favourite Georgette Heyer book, I read it many times when I was younger, and remembered it fondly. So it was the first of her books I bought here.
The story is just as terrific as I remembered - the society it is set in is realistic, the characters well rounded and the dialogue wonderful.
HOWEVER the narrator is very stilted, hesitant in places and quite wooden in pronunciation. I was so disappointed. If I had not been so fond of the story I would not have listened all the way through.
Fortunately, he does not narrate the entire series, so I will try some of the others.

Great Story, Stilted Narrator

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I first read A Civil Contract as a teenager, many years ago, and have since eschewed it, being quite disappointed as it lacked the high romance I yearned for. But I am so glad that I finally decided to give this book another chance. As an almost 50 yr old, I can now appreciate the realities within the story, that life is not a bed of roses where everything works out the way you hope, and that even so it can still be good and satisfying. The more I read, the more I came to appreciate Jenny with her matter-of-fastness and the more I was repelled by the histrionics of Julia. I still love reading Georgette Heyer’s Regency romances but did so enjoy this dose of everyday common sense.

Worth reading again.

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Extremely well done and read well modulated voice a pleasure to listen to hope to hear more he reader

Well read

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Full of mispronunciations.

How can audible charge full price for such poorly narrated stories?

The whole audible business model is based on us the buyer paying our hard earned money to be entertained. Not to be irritated.

When was this recorded, 1970? Shame on you audible.

Audible needs to pay for a good lively narration.

Terrible narration

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This was a good story for it’s time.
The narrator was excellent. The only think wrong with it it skips and you loose what was going on

Good story but….

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