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The Lie of the Land

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The Lie of the Land

By: Amanda Craig
Narrated by: Emma Powell
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About this listen

 'A very good read indeed' MATT HAIG

'Terrific, page-turning, slyly funny' INDIA KNIGHT

'As satisfying a novel as I have read in years' SARAH PERRY

'One of the most brilliant and entertaining novelists' ALISON LURIE

Quentin and Lottie Bredin, like many modern couples, can't afford to divorce. Having lost their jobs in the recession, they can't afford to go on living in London; instead, they must downsize and move their three children to a house in a remote part of Devon. Arrogant and adulterous, Quentin can't understand why Lottie is so angry; devastated and humiliated, Lottie feels herself to have been intolerably wounded.

Mud, mice and quarrels are one thing - but why is their rent so low? What is the mystery surrounding their unappealing new home? The beauty of the landscape is ravishing, yet it conceals a dark side involving poverty, revenge, abuse and violence which will rise up to threaten them.

Sally Verity, happily married but unhappily childless knows a different side to country life, as both a Health Visitor and a sheep farmer's wife; and when Lottie's innocent teenage son Xan gets a zero-hours contract at a local pie factory, he sees yet another. At the end of their year, the lives of all will be changed for ever.

A suspenseful black comedy, this is a rich, compassionate and enthralling novel in its depiction of the English countryside, and the potentially lethal interplay between money and marriage.

A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, TELEGRAPH, NEW STATESMAN, EVENING STANDARD, SUNDAY TIMES AND IRISH TIMES©2018 Amanda Craig (P)2018 Little, Brown Book Group Dark Humour Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Satire Small Town & Rural Marriage Divorce
All stars
Most relevant  
Enjoyable, entertaining, hilarious, sobering and insightful. This account examines the broad range of emotion that comes to a family after an affair. Its consequences are far-reaching due to it happening during the global financial crisis as they are in dire financial and marital trouble. Lottie micromanages, Quentin is supercilious and complains, as they must uproot their children, used to private tuition and all the London expectations and trappings to rent out their family home and rent in the cheaper countryside.
Interesting personal link for me is that it alludes to male/female roles of “Far from the Maddening Crowd” which I’m pleased to have recently listened. I rate the narrator and her Aussie accent.

Poignant dissection of tumultuous effect of an affair

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Found it to be well-written and insightful concerning marriage and the human condition. Some big thrills and spills in there too, to keep you turning the page.

Good piece of literary fiction with some thrills

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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.