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Beatrix & Fred

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Beatrix & Fred

By: Emily Spurr
Narrated by: Zoe Trilsbach
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Beatrix is a loner. She has a love-hate relationship with her one friend, Ray, a hate-hate relationship with everyone else in her office and a genuine attachment to a stuffed canary named Horatio. She drinks alone far too much. Lately she’s been finding the edge of the railway platform dangerously seductive.

Her life needs to change. Then she crosses paths with an old woman who seems to be stalking her, and that’s exactly what happens. Eighty-something Fred is smart, earthy, funny and not the harmless elderly lady she appears to be. She is, in fact, quite literally something else. But what?

When something happens to Ray, Fred decides to reveal herself. And Beatrix realises she has some agonising choices to make.

Beatrix and Fred is an off-kilter love story wrapped in a satisfying layer of moral complexity and tied up with a ribbon of sheer fun. Warm, witty, more than slightly weird—it takes the age-old question of what it is to be human beyond humanity itself.©2023 Emily Spurr (P)2023 W.F.Howes Ltd Friendship Genre Fiction Magical Realism Psychological Fiction
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I loved Emily Spurr’s previous novel A Million Things, and was excited to listen to this one. My hopes were probably too high. For the first half, I found the story interesting, the main character - though flawed - likeable, and the supporting characters well timed. The narration was good, clear and easy to listen to. But then the fantasy/supernatural element appeared and while I didn’t hate it, I felt the energy change in the writing. It didn’t help that the Fred character, in all its forms, was genuinely unlikeable and left a trail of damage, hurt, and chaos in its wake, which was never properly addressed. The twist at the end was needed, but by the time it came I was feeling restless with the story and didn’t really care that much. I’m all for main characters that aren’t always the ‘good guy’ or particularly likeable, but this time it didn’t work for me, and I felt much more empathy and curiosity for the character of Ray than that of Fred. Spurr’s writing is good, but the second half of the story just wasn’t there this time. Three stars because of the first half.

Narrator was good but the story lacked

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There was nothing I liked and everything I disliked . I disliked the overuse of the word f…..ck, I disliked the sorry itself and the characters Without doubt one of the worst Audible books I’ve attempt to listen to. Maybe it improves in the last 5 1/2 hours but I wasnt prepared to waste anymore of my life finding out . Stupid story, stupid plot and BORING!

The swearing and lack of plot was the worst

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