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Bellman & Black

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Bellman & Black

By: Diane Setterfield
Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
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Summary

As a boy, William Bellman commits one small cruel act that appears to have unforeseen and terrible consequences. The killing of a rook with his catapult is soon forgotten amidst the riot of boyhood games.

And by the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, he seems indeed, to be a man blessed by fortune. Until tragedy strikes, and the stranger in black comes, and William Bellman starts to wonder if all his happiness is about to be eclipsed.

Desperate to save the one precious thing he has left, he enters into a bargain. A rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner, to found a decidedly macabre business. And Bellman & Black is born.

©2013 Diane Setterfield (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Contemporary Fiction Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Ghosts Gothic Historical Horror Literary Fiction Mystery
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Lovely, bleak and nicely tied together by the rook theme. For me, this is about the impact of the Industrial Revolution and early capitalism on our sense of what it means to live as humans.

Clever modernising of gothic themes, though it’s set centuries ago.

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another fi Ely crafted story from Diane Setterfield. story is absorbing, detailed and moves along at the perfect pace.

Setterfield never disappoints

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I loved the thirteenth tale so was
Looking forward to this book. The writing is beautiful the details of the historical fiction were wonderful too. For me it lacked depth of character development and meaning - we never really got into Bellman’s head felt what he felt or knew what drove him. It somehow lack interactions and rested too heavily on recounting. The imagery and the bird motif had so much promise but landed awkwardly for me. Even commentary on the changing way we grieve would have been welcomed but fell short. I wanted more from this beautifully written work by a fav author.

Beautiful writing but…

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