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The Wartime Book Club

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The Wartime Book Club

By: Kate Thompson
Narrated by: Imogen Church
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About this listen

*BASED ON A TRUE STORY, CONTAINS 50+ PAGES OF EXTRA CONTENT ON THE REAL PEOPLE THE BOOK IS INSPIRED BY*

Jersey, 1943. When the German Army invades the tranquil island, librarian Grace La Motée is determined to keep her services running. Ordered to destroy books which threaten the Nazi regime, she refuses, instead hiding them away and fighting back by forming a book club: a lifeline to help islanders escape the terror of war, one chapter at a time.

But soon Grace's quiet acts of bravery become even more perilous. She's harbouring dangerous secrets - ones that put her life in danger - and when tensions turn to violence, she is forced to face the true, terrible cost of resistance . . .

Based on astonishing real events, The Wartime Book Club is a love letter to the power of books in the darkest of times - as well as a moving story that brings to life the remarkable, untold story of an island at war.

'One of the very best books I've read in a long time' PETER JAMES
'Engaging' RACHEL HORE
'Both heartwarming and heartbreaking' GILL PAUL
'A poignant masterpiece' MADELINE MARTIN
'A book to be savoured and remembered' GILL THOMPSON

©2024 Kate Thompson (P)2024 Hodder & Stoughton Limited 20th Century Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Feel-Good Heartfelt
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I learned a lot about the island occupation. The story took the reader into a time and personal experiences of those who lived through the occupation. Thoroughly recommend this book

Informative and a good read

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A fantastic historical fiction. Based on the wartime period of 1943-1945, each chapter switches between the perspectives of Grace and Bea, two best friends who live through the German occupation of the Channel Islands.
Grace, a librarian and overly cautious but extremely kind person, and Bea the spirited, cheeky and most daring of the two go through their day to day activities, each partaking in their own little resistance against the German riechstag in an attempt to help others and potentially save lives. This fictional heartwarming story, interwoven with true stories of heroic actions partaken by some truly remarkable people are what make this well written story feel so vividly real.

The performance by Irene Church was especially impressive. Her ability to switch between characters, with wildly varying accents and energies to match are what added to the performance to make this audio book really enjoyable.

Such a great performance I felt like I was listing to a movie

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Narration, storyline and characters all tied together perfectly. Loved the way all the people of Jersey stuck together giving a real sense of community. A terrific read, thank you 😊

FANTASTIC

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Narration for this book was absolutely terrible
That was not enough variation between voices to make the story well understood.

The story

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...such a great story, had it all love hate punishment the lot... during some nleak and horrible times in history...have booked my holiday to check the island....was so well written and plots so real, the authors notes just as interesting..
loved it

loved this read...loved it

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This is a wonderful story of hope prevailing through the tragedy of war. Beautiful characters and well researched. I really want to visit the library 😊

The characters were fabulous

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How vividly each character, scene and interwoven stories were portrayed. Loved every word. I cried and laughed often.

Took you right there!

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This was so ridiculous I fast forward most of it. The narration was awful and shouty. A waste of a credit

Dreadful

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I really enjoyed the story, hearing more about the history of my husband’s home. The performance somewhat let it down, pronouncing the names of places and surnames on the island incorrectly isn’t great when they are prominent in the story.

A slice of history

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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.