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The Persimmon Tree cover art

The Persimmon Tree

By: Bryce Courtenay
Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
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Publisher's Summary

It is 1942 in the Dutch East Indies, and Nick Duncan is a young Australian butterfly collector in search of a single exotic butterfly. With invading Japanese forces coming closer by the day, Nick falls in love with the beguiling Anna van Heerden.

Their time together is brief, as both are forced into separate, dangerous escapes. They plan to reunite and marry in Australia but it is several years before their paths cross again, scarred forever by the dark events of a long, cruel war.

In The Persimmon Tree, Bryce Courtenay gives us a story of love and friendship set against the dramatic backdrop of the Pacific during the Second World War.

©2007 Bryce Courtenay. By arrangement with Penguin Group (Australia).; 2013 Bryce Courtenay. By arrangement with Penguin Group (Australia). (P)2007 Bolinda Publishing

Critic Reviews

"The ultimate international bestseller." (The New York Times)
"When the Japanese invade Indonesia in 1942, 17-year-old Australian Nick Duncan escapes by sailing a yacht across the ocean. It's a harrowing journey made manageable, in part, by Nick's hope that his new love, Anna, is safely on her way to Australia. Unfortunately, Anna is stuck in Indonesia, a prisoner of the Japanese. Humphrey Bower's narration makes it a pleasure. His skills should be a model. He reads with anticipation, so that a line written as a laugh or a sob is read as a laugh or a sob without being overdramatized. His characterizations reveal personality and motive, and hold steady throughout the book. And his pacing keeps us interested even when the plot is predictable." (AudioFile Magazine)

What listeners say about The Persimmon Tree

Average Customer Ratings
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Sad but beautiful

This book had me in tears on more than one occasion. An author that can produce raw emotion like that is a genius in my opinion.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Very pleasant listening to this book.

Bryce Courtney, well, what can you say! Brilliant writer, great story line, interesting characters, funny and witty. Narrator Andrew Bower is superb, swapping effortlessly from each character with the accent, personality and feeling all balanced together to create a genuine relationship with each and every character in this book.

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another fabulous Bryce Courtenay story

historical, romantic, emotional, and captivating this book has it all. Narrated by the talented and versatile Humphrey Bower, this cleaver story is well worth listening too.

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Great yarn. Well performed.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I am looking forward to listening to book two.

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thoroughly enjoyed this book

I really enjoyed this book found it hard to put aside until I could listen again. besides enjoyable story very informative, about life in the islands during WW11

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The Cruelty of the Human Race!!

Loved the story although the Cruelty at it's worst ,just because of greed over land and the colour of one's skin, was hard to listen to. Humphrey Bower triumphs as always!!

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Perhaps one of the best novels I have read

Bryce Courtney, alas no more, is one of the New World's great writers. As always, he paints detailed pictures of his characters who are believable and sufficiently complex to be interesting. This is my third of the books of his and I have listened to on Audible and I am simply in awe of his writing in this one. I learned a lot, felt a lot and was riveted by the story. I could hardly stop listening to this novel and was sorry - even after 27 hours - it ended at all. He writes somewhat like Dickens with passion and detail, pushing you back in time until you feel like an observing bystander. He is more contemporary in style and in each instance writes about a different era.

Humphrey Bower - his regular - was an almost faultless narrator on this occasion. He excelled this time and added immensely to the writing like few could. Amazing characterisations of either sex. I believed every one of them, What a great team they made.

I really recommend this book highly. It is a GREAT book. How nice to leave such a legacy of work behind like this. A man of many talents, modern for his day, and yet he will be remembered mostly for his writing I am sure.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding, as always!

What did you like most about The Persimmon Tree?

Amazing and original storyline, could NOT stop listening!

What did you like best about this story?

Humphrey Bower manages to make these books come to life. A great book is only as good as its narrator.

Have you listened to any of Humphrey Bower’s other performances? How does this one compare?

He is a wonderful narrator. I have thoroughly enjoyed ALL of his many narrations.

Any additional comments?

A perfect ending that made me buy the sequel "Fishing for Stars" immediately!

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1 person found this helpful

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Engrossing

Written by a master craftsman and an entertaining story-teller. It's a great read/listen. Superb narration.

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I wanted it to be true

The book was great. Great story line and interesting characters. The narration was exceptional, with a great variety of accents and clear pronunciation of foreign words.

Very likable all around

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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.