Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.
Title: The Blind Contessa's New Machine
Subtitle: A Novel
Author: Carey Wallace
Narrator: Aasne Vigesaa
Format: Unabridged
Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
Language: English
Release date: 07-08-10
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 12 votes
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Publisher's Summary:
Carolina Fantoni, a young contessa in 19th-century Italy, is going blind. But nobody believes her: neither her parents nor her fiancé, the towns most sought-after bachelor. Only her friend Turri, the eccentric local inventor, understands. But as darkness erases her world, Carolina discovers one place she can still see in her dreams. In them, she can not only see, but fly, exploring new worlds in her own mind.
Losing her sight isolates Carolina. Even writing letters with pen and ink proves almost impossible until Turri invents a new machine: the worlds first typewriter. His gift ignites a passionate love affair that will mark both of their lives forever.
Based on the true story of the blind woman who inspired the invention of the typewriter, The Blind Contessas New Machine is an iridescent jewel of a novel that celebrates the triumph of the imagination and proves that love is the mother of invention.
Critic Reviews:
"Wallace has a smooth style and a sure hand in combining near tragedy with whimsy, whether she's detailing Carolina and Pietro's social circle, the state of scientific knowledge, or the progression of Carolina's blindness. Secondary characters, including Carolina's not-so loyal servant girl, Liza, are sketched with hints of a darker, deeper psychology. Despite its relative brevity, this is a work of surprising insight, humor, and heart." (Publishers Weekly)
Members Reviews:
Lovely Literature - though not much on the history of the typewriter
I picked up this book because it was based on a real-life story, and I was looking forward to reading about the invention of the typewriter. But there wasn't really much of that in this book.
However, it is so well written that I ended up enjoying it immensely for different reasons. Carey Wallace is a wonderful writer, with an incredible ability to put sentences and paragraphs together - much better than I can ... as you can plainly read ;-)
As a reader, although you know WHAT happens, you don't always know WHY. You are free to create your own conclusions, which can be a bit exasperating (as this is based on a true store)
Did Pietro know? Did he really have an affair with Liza? Did Turri and the Contessa communicate after she moved away? If not, why not?
Beautiful, careful writing; a gem of a book
This lovely, quiet book drew me into its world; I could not stop reading until I came to the end. A first novel, perhaps, but also a mature creation. Many authors never achieve a work that demonstrates such a disciplined command of the art and craft of writing. Here the author exercises poetic facility, descriptive powers, and insight into the human experience with finesse and balance that serve, never overshadow, the story. The love the writer brings to her art sees and does not judge; she neither vilifies nor sanctifies her characters, but presents each one in the complexity of his or her humanity. Most important, there is that je ne sais quoi that transcends what a writer must work with--common words--transforming them to art and a light on our own life in the world. The Blind Contessa's New Machine brings us face to face with darkness, literal and figurative, showing us not only its terrors, but most of all its warmth, beauties, rich textures, and compelling mysteries. In revealing to us visions of the inner eye, this book about blindness may change the way we see.
