The Whalebone Theatre
- Author Joanna Quinn
- Narrator Olivia Vinall
- Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
- Publish Date 9 June 2022
- Run Time 18 hours and 24 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Adventure fiction, Family life fiction, Historical fiction, Modern and contemporary fiction, War, combat and military adventure fiction.
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Listen to a sample
What to expect
Brought to you Penguin.
'Maudie, why are all the best characters men?'
Maudie closes the book with a clllump. 'We haven't read all the books yet, Miss Cristabel. I can't believe that every story is the same'
Cristabel Seagrave has always wanted her life to be a story, but there are no girls in the books in her dusty family library. For an unwanted orphan who grows into an unmarriageable young woman, there is no place at all for her in a traditional English manor.
But from the day that a whale washes up on the beach at the Chilcombe estate in Dorset, and twelve-year-old Cristabel plants her flag and claims it as her own, she is determined to do things differently.
With her step-parents blithely distracted by their endless party guests, Cristabel and her siblings, Flossie and Digby, scratch together an education from the plays they read in their freezing attic, drunken conversations eavesdropped through oak-panelled doors, and the esoteric lessons of Maudie their maid.
But as the children grow to adulthood and war approaches, jolting their lives on to very different tracks, it becomes clear that the roles they are expected to play are no longer those they want. As they find themselves drawn into the conflict, they must each find a way to write their own story...
© Joanna Quinn 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022
Critics Review
Destined to become a classic . . . Elegantly written and totally immersive, Quinn’s debut is a wonder
User Reviews
The blurb really does not do justice to this story. Heart-warming and heart-breaking in equal measure. It's beautifully written, and probably one of my new favourite books, which I will certainly be revisiting in the future.
A massive mention must be given to the narration. The story was read beautifully and each character given a distinct voice. I've never heard somebody pull off "Cockney with a hint of French" before!
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