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Bryce Courtenay

Storyteller

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Bryce Courtenay

By: Christine Courtenay
Narrated by: Christine Courtenay
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About this listen

 When Christine Courtenay began penning her own life story in lockdown last year, she found herself increasingly drawn into the story of her late husband and bestselling author Bryce Courtenay. The manuscript that evolved is the memoir his readers have longed for, and is the first biographical work of one of Australia's most beloved authors.

Bryce Courtenay was a figure larger than life, and his extraordinary, adventurous, rags-to-riches life story reads like one of his epic fictions - and indeed characters, places, episodes and themes have made their way into his novels. He was born in South Africa, an illegitimate son to Maud Jessamine Greer, who gave him the name 'Courtenay', and spent his challenging childhood in a number of small African towns. He was later schooled at an exclusive boarding school in Johannesburg, and worked the dangerous mines of Rhodesia in the fifties to pay his way to journalism school in London, where he met his first wife Benita Solomon. Bryce followed Benita home to Sydney, where they married and raised three sons.

He embarked on a career in advertising, first as a copywriter, that spanned 34 years, and was Creative Director at McCann Erikson, J.Walter Thompson and George Patterson before following his childhood dream to become a novelist. The Power of One was published in 1989, and quickly became an international bestseller. Bryce went on to write another twenty bestsellers, and can only be described as an Australian publishing phenomenon. Bryce and Benita parted ways in 1999. Bryce engaged Christine Gee as his publicist in 1997. She became his partner in 2005, and they married in 2011. Bryce passed away on 22 November 2012, ten days after the publication of his last book, Jack of Diamonds.

Bryce Courtenay: Storyteller is a personal memoir and tribute, featuring untold stories, original insights, extracts from his personal letters and previously unpublished photographs - from the woman who knew and loved him dearly.©2022 Christine Courtenay (P)2022 Penguin Random House Australia Art & Literature Authors Africa Marriage Memoir
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I really looked forward to listening to this story about a fabulous story teller however the narrator was so hard to listen to I found it almost impossible to finish. So disappointed.

Narration

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Could have been an interesting story but was overloaded with reading letters and stating the obvious but most irritating- was the narration, impossible to enjoy with mispronunciations and hard tone- I gave up after a few chapters- what a pity. I think reading this story would have been a better experience but I can't 'unhear' the narration so probably won't bother.

A disappointment - sadly

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Whether you've read all 22 Bryce Courtenay books or none, you will find so many life lessons in this memoir - the majority coming from Bryce himself with his rise from obscurity as an "illegitimate child" to authoring "The power of One" in 1989 after his successful 34 year advertising career. The real joy in this book is the personal information supplied by Christine Courtenay, who cleverly weaved her own treasured experiences with the public persona so well crafted by Bryce himself - and it's this combination that makes this book such a treat. It is so much more than just the life story of this great storyteller. It is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace & gratitude, as crafted so beautifully by the author. Here's a great Christmas gift that continues the Bryce Courtney tradition.

The Power of "TWO"

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Loved it, I when reading reviews I was surprised others did not enjoy it. Thanks for telling his story.

I must be easy to please.

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