The First Violin
Gelesen von Sandra G
Jessie Fothergill
(4,507 Sterne; 71 Bewertungen)
May Wedderburn is a quiet provincial girl, living in small and seemingly boring Skernford. Underneath the dull exterior, there is mystery, suspicion and fear in this little town, surrounding the austere local wealthy landowner who is very interested in marrying poor May. It looks as though she will have to marry him whether she likes it or not until an unsuspected alliance is formed between her and a respected old lady. They both escape to Germany where music and excitement await them.
Editing and additional proof-listening by Betsie Bush & Sarah Jennings. (15 hr 50 min)
Chapters
Bewertungen
Excellence+
McWiggle
(5 Sterne)
Touching plot coupled w exceptional reader make for a 5+ rating. Ms G, I hope to find more of your contributions! While your native language seems to be English, your execution of German seems well done! Note to listener to perhaps lessen confusion. Chapter 15 suddenly transitions from the vantage point being told by the heroin to that of the friend of the love-interest.
Duncalino
(5 Sterne)
Read this book! That all I can say. You are in for a sweet treat. The reader is flawless with her characterizations. The story is a wonderful morality tale and unforgettable romance. The characters have depth, the story only a bit far-fetched. (I'd call it artistic license) and there is music as a backdrop. I have already downloaded the Lenore Symphony No 5 by Joachim Raff. What a find that is! Enjoy
Beautifully moving
BreAnna Teschendorf
(4 Sterne)
I really enjoyed this book. Sandra is an amazing reader, extremely talented and pleasant to listen to! Jessie Fothergill is an interesting author, very different from most Victorian writers I've read; more emotional, less whimsy. The realistic tone of the book was very enjoyable, lovely depth in the characters! However, the story took a, not very believable, and very overly-dramatic, way-too-big-of-a-coincidence, turn at the end, which all but ruined it for me. Also, I live in Germany and speak German so I was disappointed that I couldn't always understand the readers German, due to mispronunciation. She's not a German speaker, so she did a fine job, really. But, it would have been just so great to actually have a German speaker. I could have lived without the fake German accent, as well. But all in all..... it was very good, great recording, engaging reader, fun, beautiful book.
Annoying Characters
(2 Sterne)
I know a lot of these stories were written in a different (more sexist) era where women were merely seen as flippant little creatures, but I do tire of these leading ladies being written as whiney, idiotic fools. How obnoxious they are, but oh wait! They're pretty so everyone loves them. I will say the reader was EXCELLENT which made it bearable to get to the end to see what happened.
(5 Sterne)
A good book made excellent by the most tallented dramatic reading I have had the pleasure to hear. It is a Jane Austin but with depth and feeling miss Austin never achieved. Simply delightful beginning to end. Most highly recommended. I will be looking for more from this reader. Thank you, Sandra. You brought life abundant to the text.
The First Violin
TheBookworm
(5 Sterne)
As with her other solo narration, the reader's youthful voice and perfect diction aids this romantic tale. Frankly the narrator's skill and expressiveness kept my interest more than the story. Again we must thank Sandra for her fine work. Ubrigens ist ihr Deutsch ziemlich gut. More please! TheBookworm (Manchester, UK)
Now what about that Second Violin?
potuc
(5 Sterne)
I wish Sandra G would read more, her voice suits this story very well. Oh, and if you're gonna talk about "we'll this is sexist" note that this was written by a woman... so it was probably shockingly, well, "non-sexist" for the time!
If You Live the Arts
dsuden
(5 Sterne)
The author is clearly a great lover of the arts, and it really comes through in this book. Beautifully written, and interesting story with strong characters, and impressively narrated by a very talented young lady. Thanks very much for contributing this work to LibriVox!