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Sweet Tooth

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Sweet Tooth

By: Ian McEwan
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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About this listen

Shortlisted for: Audiobook of the Year – Specsavers National Book Awards 2012

Serena Frome, the beautiful daughter of an Anglican bishop, has a brief affair with an older man during her final year at Cambridge and finds herself being groomed for the intelligence services. The year is 1972. Britain, confronting economic disaster, is being torn apart by industrial unrest and terrorism and faces its fifth state of emergency. The Cold War has entered a moribund phase, but the fight goes on, especially in the cultural sphere.

Serena, a compulsive reader of novels, is sent on a ‘secret mission’ that brings her into the literary world of Tom Haley, a promising young writer. First she loves his stories; then she begins to love the man. Can she maintain the fiction of her undercover life? And who is inventing whom? To answer these questions, Serena must abandon the first rule of espionage – trust no one.

McEwan’s mastery dazzles us in this superbly deft and witty story of betrayal and intrigue, love, and the invented self.

©2012 Ian McEwan (P)2012 Random House Audiobooks Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction Witty

Critic Reviews

"Ian McEwan’s SWEET TOOTH is a joy, beautifully written, moving between love and betrayal, reality and shadows with a wonderful ease, breathing vivid life into the characters." ( Kati Nicholl, Express.co.uk)
All stars
Most relevant  
sweet tooth is well written but, as it is essentially a writer writing about writing, I found it a bit self indulgent. In my opinion, McEwan writes with more confidence in his understanding of the female psyche than he should, and the denouement is a "clever" literary device but unsatisfactory.

A bit too clever

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Well written. Slow build but great ending.
And beautifully read by Juliet Stevenson. She’s great.

Good story

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Loved this spy thriller romantic suspense. The deep emotional twist and turns with clever insights into human motives and betrayals. Highly recommend.

Another Excellemt Story

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It was a bit slow, taking a long time to go not very far. I don’t think the steaks were quite high enough. But having said that, it was beautifully written and very engaging. It’s slowly build the tension and lead to a very satisfying ending. I really enjoyed it in the end.

Yeah, good

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Absolutely brilliant storytelling. From the opening twisting prose to the last, sensual syllable. Ten from ten 10/10 ✨

Brilliant!

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The narrator's voice suited the era of the novel perfectly. Historical content underpinned a time of revolutionary ideas, and as an Australian, gave me insight into other times in world politics, when day to day freedoms were restricted.

Intriguing

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McEwen managers well to write this story from a female perspective. Well embellished by the wonderful narration. I was quite entertained and enjoyed the twist at the end.

A Twist of Fate

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