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Title: The Camomile Lawn

Author: Mary Wesley

Narrator: Anna Massey

Format: Abridged

Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-31-07

Publisher: Hodder Headline Limited

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 16 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

August 1939. Five cousins gather for the annual summer ritual of a holiday in Cornwall; for most of them it is the last summer of their youth. The heady exhilarations of the freedoms brought by loss of innocence, and fear, are around the corner. War will change everything.

©1984 Mary Wesley; (P)1997 Hodder and Stoughton Audiobooks

Critic Reviews:

"It is hard to overpraise Mary Wesley's novel...so tingling and spry with life that put a mirror to the book and I'll almost swear it will mist over with the breath of the five young cousins." (The Times)

Members Reviews:

Maybe the unabridged version is better

I did not realize that this was the abridged version until after I'd listened to the entire thing. It makes a little more sense now, as I assume the unabridged version filled in some of the missing pieces and made more sense. Not that the abridged version was hard to follow, I just felt that there had to be more back-story and character development than this. I couldn't truly grasp some of the characters' motivations for their actions. I'm hoping the unabridged version gives more justification for all the bed-hopping that went on. The characters came off as heartless, callous and downright immoral, and I'm sure that is not how Wesley intended them.

And Ann Massey's narration was just painful to listen to; I kept imagining all the face-wrenching she'd had to do for her characterizations. I wish she'd just read it straight through; there was really no need for all of the overly thick and exaggerated English accents. Even her attempts at the Erstwhilers' German accent was uncomfortable to listen to. Funny, but uncomfortable.

I am so jolly well confused, dash it all!

Would you try another book from Mary Wesley and/or Anna Massey?

Mary Wesley yes, Anna Massey NO going by this experience

Who was your favorite character and why?

Polly, she got to shag the blonde twins and seems to navigate life better than the rest of them.

What didnt you like about Anna Masseys performance?

Anna's voice as narrator was perfectly appropriate - between the spoken exchanges. When it came to speaking the parts of the characters there were simply too many voices to be able to keep them clearly defined from each other. The mens 'voices' were particularly hammy and rendered the book quite excruciating to listen to. The women's 'voices' were hard to distinguish - Austrian accented one aside, but not as awful as the males. I had read the book years ago and remembered it fondly. This experience has ruined the story for me. It would have read better had a man or two been employed to do the male voices.

What character would you cut from The Camomile Lawn?

none

Any additional comments?

Painful, I will think long and hard about the narrator used in future. Currently listening to Lolita for which Jeremy Irons voice and tone is perfect despite the over wordiness.