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The Moment
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding, Patience Tomlinson
- Length: 20 hrs and 25 mins
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The Moment
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Summary
Thomas Nesbitt is a divorced American writer in the midst of a rueful middle age. Living a very private life in Maine - in touch only with his daughter and still trying to reconcile him to the end of a long marriage that he knew was flawed from the outset - he finds his solitude disrupted by the arrival, one wintry morning, of a box postmarked Berlin. The return address on the box - Dussmann - unsettles him completely. For it is the name of the woman with whom he had an intense love affair twenty-six years ago in Berlin - at a time when the city was cleaved in two, and personal and political allegiances were haunted by the deep shadows of the Cold War.
Refusing initially to confront what he might find in that box, Thomas nevertheless finds himself forced to grapple with a past he has never discussed with any living person - and in the process relive those months in Berlin, when he discovered, for the first and only time in his life, the full, extraordinary force of true love. But Petra Dussmann - the woman to whom he lost his heart - was not just a refugee from a police state, but also someone who lived with an ongoing sorrow beyond dreams... and one which gradually rewrote both their destinies. In this, his tenth novel, Douglas Kennedy has written that rare thing: a love story as morally complex as it is tragic and deeply reflective. Brilliantly gripping, it is an atmospherically dense, ethically tangled tale of romantic certainty and conflicting loyalties, all set amidst a stunningly rendered portrait of Berlin in the final dark years before The Wall came down.
Like all of Kennedy’s previous, critically acclaimed bestselling novels, The Moment is both un-put-down-able and profound. Posing so many searching questions about why and how we fall in love - and the tangled way we project on to others that which our hearts seek - it is a love story of great epic sweep and immense emotional power.
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What listeners say about The Moment
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Kim B.
- 20-09-12
Worth sticking with......
Whilst not 'loving' this book, I'm glad I stuck with it because I did enjoy the storyline!!! There were a couple of historical points I take issue with (having lived in Germany in the 80s), the first being that Tom and Petra drank Pinot Grigio...........I don't think so, in those days all you could get was German wine and also Tom eating a spaghetti carbonara, again I really don't think so. Spaghetti bolognaise was pretty much the extent of the pasta selection! My biggest problem with the book, and one that certainly took strength to overcome was the utterly dreadful narration!!! Jeff Harding was fine as Tom, a deal less fine as Petra, Alaistair and the others but rubbish as Johannes! Patience Tomlinson was truly awful!!! Her nasally, high pitched tone was very distracting, coupled with her abysmal interpretation of the German accent (I thought Petra was in fact Asian when Patience was narrating), throwing in the odd 'v' (the German way of sounding a 'w') and then only doing it occasionally does not a German accent make!!! Jeff Harding didn't fare much better with Johannes who sounded like an Eastern European, definitely not a German. Honestly, if a book is worth narrating, then surely it's worth narrating well?
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cecilia Russell
- 28-04-24
A brilliant depiction of characters caught in a moment.
A long book but would not shorten it by a word. A complex weave of love, loss, passion and spies all around the Berlin Wall and after it fell. Well drawn characters…..both good ones and bad. Another great Kennedy novel. Highly recommend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- joanna
- 27-01-19
Jeff Harding
Jeff Harding made this beautiful love story for me. what a wonderful narrator. I didn’t like the female narrator
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Prof P. M. King
- 03-12-23
Last third of novel redundant
The main plot was fine, and came to its inevitable end, but was then retold without suspense as the reader had already guessed the rest. The yearning for parenthood was unconvincingly portrayed. The female narrator was a disaster -easily twenty years too old for the role.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
- m
- 30-08-11
The moment the voice changed!
Douglas Kennedy paints a believable picture with lots of what ifs and the story is rich. The narration is not great with a sudden change from Jeff Harding to Patience Tomlinson when you had just started to believe that Petra did speak in a really low voice!
If you can get past this the book has unexpected twists which kept me interested until the end.beta inappVoteInfo
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Caroline
- 08-06-20
Engrossing story
A great story that gives an insightful view of Berlin before the wall came down. Twists and turns with unexpected stories. Always loved Kennedy’s books. Wish there were more
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 07-06-24
Bit drawn out at beginning. But worth the wait in the end.
Almost gave up a couple of times but story developed well. I liked male narrator. But later in the story, the female voice telling Petras story did not fit the character, such a shame, as it was a bit off putting, and Petras story was so important
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
- Una
- 16-05-12
Patience Tomlison narration lets this book down
I have read every book written by this author and they have been great. This one is the only one I have not liked. It is also the only one I have listened to rather than read. Though I think the story is weak, it is the narration that really lets it down.
Jeff Harding is fine, it is Patience Tomlinson who is dreadful. Her voice grates on the ears. I have heard her read before on R4 and she was fine but here she is truly dreadful. Maybe it is the accent she is trying to put on but she reads with a real shrill and nasal tone which is very distracting.
The book should have just been read by Jeff Harding doing all the voices and I am sure it would have benn much better.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- balzar
- 07-06-15
Interminable!
What would have made The Moment better?
Cutting out about 200 pages - the description of love's young dream goes on forever
Would you be willing to try another book from Douglas Kennedy? Why or why not?
Yes - have read and enjoyed other books by him
What about Jeff Harding and Patience Tomlinson ’s performance did you like?
Jeff Harding is excellent. Hovewer, Patience Tomlinson, although good, seems to be about 60 years old - her voice and tone are quite unsuitable for the character of Petra
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Tedium
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- C. Maughan
- 12-08-16
How to ruin an interesting story
Douglas Kennedy always writes a good story but in this case it was completely spoilt by the terrible narration. Jeff Harding has a most bizarre and inappropriate intonation and phrasing which is horribly distracting. His ludicrous vocal interpretation of female characters is truly awful, as was his dreadful attempt at an English accent. Patience Tomlinson, whilst a bit better, was also a big disappointment. I'm sorry to be so negative but a good and unusual story was, in my opinion, ruined entirely owing to the way it was read.
I would not recommend this version of the story for the reasons stated above.
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