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The Blue Afternoon

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The Blue Afternoon

By: William Boyd
Narrated by: Kate Handford
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

WINNER OF THE SUNDAY EXPRESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD
A quest for secrets in the blue afternoon . . .

Los Angeles, 1936. Kay Fischer, a young and ambitious architect, is being followed by an old man. When confronted, he explains that his name is Salvador Carriscant - and that he is her father.

In a matter of weeks Kay will join Salvador on an extraordinary journey as they delve back into his past to not only learn the truth behind her own birth, but also to discover the whereabouts of a woman long thought dead - and to uncover the identity of a killer.

'Achingly memorable' The Times

'The finest storyteller of his generation' Daily Telegraph

'An extraordinary story' John Mortimer, Sunday Telegraph, Books of the Year

'Terrific' Jeremy Paxman, Independent, Books of the Year

'Richly entertaining' Independent

'A brilliant achievement' Time Out

© William Boyd 1993 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

 20th Century Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction
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Love trumps ethics in this improbable story about a dastardly surgeon in the Philippines! Beautifully written and at times quite shocking! Memorable! A great way to spend 15 hours! I hope you never see a surgeon like that! One who masturbates in the woods!

A very unethical surgeon!

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I love William Boyd and have been listening to his early works, most of which I read years ago. Have always liked the main characters, but I couldn’t like Salvador Carriscant. Set in Philippines at start of C20, so, historically interesting. The Americans have taken control, and there are still ‘insurectos’ fighting in other provinces. Medically interesting. SC a surgeon who has adopted Lister and performs germ free operations, while his butcher colleagues are cutting up dogs and monkeys and killing patients. It’s a love story ( a thwarted one). SC falls for Delphine, married, American. Intense, passionate meetings, plans to run away. Colleague building a flimsy flying machine dreaming of winning a competition to be the first flyer. Interesting. It’s a long story, narrated by Kay, SC’s daughter by his first wife. SC persuades her to come to Portugal and look for Delphine. So they do. He’s manipulative, selfish and egotistical. Quite glad to finish. Normally I miss the characters when book over.

Good story but not to my taste

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