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The Idea of Perfection

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The Idea of Perfection

By: Kate Grenville
Narrated by: Odette Joannidis
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About this listen

Set in the eccentric backwater of Karakarook (pop. 1,374), New South Wales, this is the story of Douglas Cheeseman, a shy and clumsy engineer with jug-ears who meets Harley Savage, a woman who is known for being rather large and abrupt.

Douglas is there to pull down a quaint old bridge, and Harley aims to foster heritage. They are clearly on a collision course - but when they meet they are unaware that something unexpected is going to happen....

©2002 Kate Grenville (P)2003 W. F. Howes Ltd Contemporary Contemporary Romance Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Romance Small Town & Rural Women's Fiction
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I love the way Kate Grenville writes, the descriptive slow detailed imagery and sounds of the Australian outback and her ability to bring forth the more complex and intimate aspects of humanity. Beautifully narrated, capturing the essence of the story.

A Classic

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This is brilliant ! So clever . Lovely writing and profound insights . Such a powerful grasp of story, character and language!
Great reader as well - loved the bird calls !

The idea of Perfectionn

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What a great light-hearted story yet with so much happening like there is in little sleepy hollows outback. Very well written & told. 🚐

B/B

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So many Aussie cliches thrown into the first part of the book. The bird calls reminded me of kids listening to book reading on Playschool. Odd ending leaving me feeling like there was more to sum up. Disappointed.

Bird calls

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Kate Grenville is one of my favourite authors, ‘A Room of Leaves’ is beautiful and her ‘Dark Places’ is up there with my top 4 books, but I struggled to feel these characters fleshed out like all her others and the story is pretty dull.

A bit disappointing

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Kate Grenville is as wonderful as always. More of a character study than her historical fiction.

Wonderful! Funny. Beautiful

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So insightful. So beautifully crafted. I could relate to all the people in the story. So interesting, all her characters.

Loved it.

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The book goes on and on and ON. Every thought and action analysed. What a dragged out lot of descriptions.
Only redeeming feature is the good animal sounds by narrator.

Not for me

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.