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The Very First Damned Thing

An Author-Read Audio Exclusive

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The Very First Damned Thing

By: Jodi Taylor
Narrated by: Jodi Taylor
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About this listen

Audible is delighted to bring you an exclusive, author-read production of The Very First Damned Thing. Hear it here first, months ahead of the EBook publication.

Jodi Taylor reads the long-awaited prequel in her Chronicles of St Mary’s series, as Dr Bairstow struggles to set up St Mary’s as we know it in a world still scarred by the ravages of civil war.

Ever wondered how it all began? It’s two years since the final victory at the Battersea Barricades. The fighting might be finished, but for Dr Bairstow, just now setting up St Mary's, the struggle is only beginning.

How will he assemble his team? From where will his funding come? How can he overcome the massed ranks of the Society for the Protection of Historical Buildings? How do stolen furniture, a practical demonstration at the Stirrup Charge at Waterloo, students’ alcohol-ridden urine, a widowed urban guerrilla, a young man wearing exciting knitwear and four naked security guards all combine to become the St Mary’s of the future?

©2015 Jodi Taylor (P)2015 Audible Ltd. Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction Time Travel Psychological Horror
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Most relevant
Thanks for your books. You’re a good writer. Especially love the free stuff! Keep it up.

👍

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this free short story drew me into a whirlwind adventure I would not escape from for months.
Terrible and beautiful, I am glad I took the time to listen.

An Exciting Begining

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I stumbled onto this series. Thanks Audible for suggestions of ‘like Douglas Adams and Jasper Fforde’. How true. How it has escaped my radar I don’t know but I have been able to indulge in a back to back marathon of delightful characters, learn some historical information along the way and be transported (once you have read this book you wil get this and groan) into a world inside my head. It is just that damn good.

What a series.

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Well written and provides extra backstory leading
into a wonderful series. However, most authors should not narrate their own books and unfortunately the same holds true here. It was difficult to stick it out to the end and I only managed it due to its relevance to the series.

Great insight to the series. Poor narration.

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This book is marked as 0.5 in the series and indeed, in chronological order it does come first (yes, I do realise that for this series stating that there is a chronological order is almost contradictory). However, I only came across this book after reading the first two in the series and I believe that reading those two first gave me a lot more insight, and enjoyment, than I would have had if I had truly read this one first.

I love these books by Jodi Taylor, but I woods urge you to read this particular one out of its numbered sequence in order to get the most from the story. Having said that, this book gives you an understanding of the history of St Mary's and Dr Barstow's role in setting up the zany institution.

Finally, I have become accustomed to hearing the stories narrated by another narrator and was slightly less enthusiastic in hearing the author narrate her own book. Nothing wrong with her reading of course, it was simply different to the usual narrator.

Best to read this out of order

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