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The Silent Boy cover art

The Silent Boy

By: Andrew Taylor
Narrated by: Leon Williams
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Summary

From the number-one best-selling author of The American Boy comes a brilliant new historical thriller set during the French Revolution.Paris, 1792. Terror reigns as the city writhes in the grip of revolution. The streets run with blood as thousands lose their heads to the guillotine. Edward Savill, working in London as agent for a wealthy American, receives word that his estranged wife Augusta has been killed in France. She leaves behind 10-year-old Charles, who is brought to England to Charnwood Court, a house in the country leased by a group of émigré refugees.Savill is sent to retrieve the boy, though it proves easier to reach Charnwood than to leave. And only when Savill arrives there does he discover that Charles is mute. The boy has witnessed horrors beyond his years, but what terrible secret haunts him so deeply that he is unable to utter a word?

©2014 Andrew Taylor (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"Don't keep quiet about The Silent Boy. Tell everyone: it's a really excellent page-turning thriller set at a fascinating period in Anglo-French history" (Robert Goddard)

What listeners say about The Silent Boy

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Super story, poor narrator

What did you like most about The Silent Boy?

The tale is atmospheric and rattles along

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Silent Boy?

The discovery of the corpse in the boathouse.

How could the performance have been better?

Too many mispronunciations:
gable pronounced gabble, gavel pronounced gavelle, primly pronounced prime-ly all occur within one hour!
Failure to read ahead leads frequently to dmeaning being misrepresented.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

no

Any additional comments?

Look out for more written by Andrew Taylor, but only if there is a different narrator.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

I really wanted to like this book, as I'd enjoyed Ashes of London. But the story was dead boring half the time, with very little to keep my interest. I only stuck it out to the end through sheer stubbornness and a vague hope it would improve.
I guessed the main villain early on, which I normally never do.
And as for the narrator- sorry but he was not up to the job. Very thin unexceptional voice, with no talent for accents. All the people sounded similar or ridiculous.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Narration.

Great twists and turns. I found it a very good listen and would recommend it to anyone.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The Silent Boy- excellent but not perfect

This is a fantastic Andrew Taylor story that drags you in and keeps you imprisoned until the last, final shocking twists.
The narration is better than some I've heard but I was annoyed at the repeated mis-pronunciation of "gable" as "gabble", "purlin" as "purelin" and "gavel" as "gavelle", to name but a few. Not enough effort was made to use different voices for different characters and the character with the most distinct voice, Rampton, mysteriously lost it towards the end of the book. I've heard other Audible books where the editing has been a bit slap-dash so I don't blame the narrators. I hope others will be able to look past these faults and see the story unravel in all its Eighteenth Century glory.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Narrator spoils enjoyment

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator spoils my enjoyment of this novel. His mispronunciations show his lack of knowledge of the english language; he fails to read ahead, so certain sentences lack sense, the stresses being in the wrong places; and there is no, or little, differentiation in the various voices, so it's hard to tell who is talking. His voice is hard, and lacks timbre and tone.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

The narrator was great

I had read the book via my library. This just filled in the bits l missed and brought the characters to life, especially the boy. Ignore reviews (Audible) especially re. Gabble.. vers Gable… does it really matter, the Narrator was just perfect.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent story.

I loved this book literally could not put it down. The narrator was good except for his habit of mis pronouncing certain words. Are these books not checked before release?

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A riveting mystery

A really good historic mystery. Beautifully read, despite some mispronunciation (e.g. gabble for gable) which was distracting.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Cracking good tale!

I've read most books by Andrew Taylor and this one's definitely in my top ten!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing narration

The mispronunciation of some relatively common words was irritating,eg gable pronounced as gabble. I’m surprised that there isn’t a proof listening.

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