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By the Grand Canal by William Rivière
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By the Grand Canal

$12.56

Retail price: $13.95

Discount: 9%

This title is not eligible for purchase with membership credits. Why?

Narrator Simon Vance
Length 6 hours 25 minutes
Language English
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In the aftermath of the First World War, Hugh Thurne, a British diplomat involved in the peace negotiations, seeks solace in his rented palazzo in Venice rather than returning to his wife and the charade of his marriage in London. Although profoundly disturbed by the grim long-term prospects for peace, he has faith in the city’s power to raise his spirits. Hugh eagerly looks forward to visits with his old friends Giocomo and Valentina Venier in their dilapidated palazzo by the Grand Canal, renewing his affair with a young opera singer Emanuela, and the arrival of Violet Mancroft, the widow of his best friend lost in the war. What he does not anticipate is the shadow lying over the Venier family’s future—nor has he reckoned with the vagaries of his own heart.

William Rivière was born in 1954. After graduating from Cambridge, he spent several years in Venice and now teaches at the University Urbino in Italy. He was recently made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Simon Vance is an award-winning actor and an AudioFile Golden Voice with over fifty Earphones Awards and thirteen prestigious Audie Awards. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009.

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Reviews

“[Rivière] probes every nook of his characters’ being…His creations are fragile objects but a delight to observe.”

“[A] cast of well-imagined characters at crossroads in their lives…Wonderfully lyrical passages, capturing a great city and all its subtle charms.”

“[Rivière] is a specialist in haunting seascapes, creating a subtle and gripping story.”

“[A] lovely rhapsody of Venice and a stirring philosophical examination of war and its aftermath.”

“Vance’s voice is charming, and he enunciates each word in a precise, clipped British accent. His performance, like the text, is all about ambience…Suggested for audiophiles who relish moody historical fiction.” 

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