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Fishing for Stars

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Fishing for Stars

By: Bryce Courtenay
Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
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About this listen

Nicholas Duncan is a semi-retired shipping magnate who resides in idyllic Beautiful Bay in Indonesia. Grieving the loss of his wife, Anna, he is suffering for the first time from disturbing flashbacks to WWII, the scene of their first meeting. His other wartime lover is the striking Marg Hamilton, a powerful Australian political player still close to Nick.

Encouraged by a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Specialist, Nick sets about writing his life, drawing us into the compelling tale of the life he has lived since his war-hero days, building a shipping empire, and loving the women who inspire him.

©2008 Bryce Courtenay. By arrangement with Penguin Group (Australia). Christine Courtenay (P)2008 Bolinda Publishing Historical Fiction Fiction Marriage

Critic Reviews

"The right level of intellectual and emotional stimulation for a relaxing holiday read." (The Sunday Age)
'"Thrilling" (The Gold Coast Bulletin)
'"...certain to join its predecessors on the bestseller lists." (The Launceston Examiner)
'"The wait is over" (The Sunday Tasmanian)
All stars
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Love Bryce Courtenay as an author, however this fell a bit short of the prequel, 'The Persimmon Tree'. I'm not sure if the time period and world events weren't as compelling as the first story, but I found myself wondering a few times how much longer the story could continue. The tale follows the life of main character Nicholas Duncan - Aussie larrikin adventurer turned business magnate has had the fortune of becoming very successful after the war. The whole premise is his life struggle trying to choose between his two great loves 'Anna' and 'Marg' ... but honestly, how is it that hard? I found it a little disingenuous and Nick's character came across as much less heroic in this, able to be bossed around by both formidable women (who of course were chalk and cheese), and never really able to make his own decisions. Nick even allowed Marg to use his relationship with Anna to manipulate situations several times, which was a little pathetic. The most exciting part of the story was set in Japan but again, it was nowhere near as compelling or full of as many interesting and beautiful facts as the first book. Narration was fantastic - the narrator has a great ability to take on many accents, male and female and make them each sound unique. But overall not my favourite read/listen.

Enjoyable, but no match to the Persimmon Tree

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I enjoyed the continuation of Nick's story, coupled with the recounting of post-war events in Australia and Australasia. I preferred the "human events" and love stories in the first volume, though.

Once again, Humphrey Bower's narration stands out!

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The persimmon tree did leave me wanting more so it was good to expand on the story. It did drag on at times but I thought the weaving of the main characters into the birth of the green movement was nicely done.

Humphrey Bower’s narration was superb as usual.

Nice follow up to the persimmon tree.

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Yet another action & emotion-filled drama. Some good reminders of Australian historic events. Highly recommended.

Epic

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Enjoyed both the fiction and the factual aspects of this and the first book. Love the narrator.

Awesome

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Author / reader combo just can’t be beaten. Will always listen to these books, written and read incredibly well

Great listen

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What a wonderful story teller Bryce Courtney is. He transports the reader to a different era and keeps you there. It is advisable to read the first book before this one otherwise you miss out on another great 👍 book that is referred to in this story. Congrats

Fishing for stars

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As usual, Brycey boi produces the goods. Not essential to listen to the persimmon tree first but it gives a good back story to fishing for stars and you will fall in love with the characters even more. 10/10 would listen again 👌

Awesome story

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Wow. This has been a most informative book and not what I was expecting.
The people in part one of this story all came quite cleverly into book two. This story takes you through Indonesia, Japan, Australia and South Pacific, it’s a story of wealth and it’s power and pain and political history from 1940s to 2000. Marg and Anna are formidable women while Nick remains their equilibrium. This is spicy in parts and I have no doubt the medical terms are accurate and sometimes embarrassingly informative.
Finally this book was value indeed as 24hours has been spread over about eight days reading.
Far more info than I needed to believe the story. Bryce has carefully researched his subject and all credit is due.

Stories within stories, very complex and in depth history.

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I loved listening to this book and found it very hard to put it down, finding myself fully entranced by the reader.

So realistic.

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