A Sensible Life (Hodder Headline Audiobooks) [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Mary Wesley (Author), Anna Massey (Reader)

Book Description

Series: Hodder Headline Audiobooks | Publication Date: November 1, 1994

She was a thin, lonely child with huge eyes and an extensive vocabulary of French foul language.  Among the elegant middle-class British families holidaying in Dinard in 1926—leading their privileged lives of secure routine pleasures—Flora was a ten-year-old misfit.  Ignored by her self-absorbed parents, unloved, and pitied by the pleasant, stylish people in Brittany that summer, Flora was peripherally included in their gracious circles.  And there, meeting kindly civilized people for the first time, she fell in love—with Cosmo, with Hubert, with Feix.  It took 40 years for the love affairs to be explored, consummated, and finally resolved.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Abandoned by her parents in a Brittany resort town in 1926, 10-year-old Flora Trevelyan is taken in by vacationers and falls in love with her three adolescent protectors. "Wesley's most engaging and memorable novel so far, this finely nuanced story features an enchanting heroine, the social settings at which the British author excels and her usual keen observation of character," said PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Set in Europe between the two World Wars, Wesley's seventh novel probes undercurrents of fear threatening the security of friendship and family ties of a group of international vacationers. Meeting in 1926 at a resort in Brittany, the group forever retains ties forged on holiday. Wesley breathes life into this anxious period of history, tracing the growth of Flora, whose parents hate her; Felix, son of a Dutch baroness; best friends Cosmo and Hubert; and the Leigh family. Slowly, we come to understand Flora's successes and failures, as well as her need to appear "sensible" in a world with few constants. More than a comedy of manners, this is a story of an entire era--its relationships and its flaws.
- Ellen R. Cohen, Rockville, Md.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton; Abridged edition (November 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859980112
• ISBN-13: 978-1859980118
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,944,519 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars modern jane austen, October 17, 2001

By 

I. Seyb (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Sensible Life (Paperback)

Not to say wesley has austen's genius, but one reads her with the same sense of delight.
This is an extremely sexy book, but without the extreme explicitness of romance novels, which I always think ruins it.
Wonderful light reading.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars read all her books!, October 11, 2001

By 

Marina Green "green artist" (Northern California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Sensible Life (Paperback)

I am currently reading all of Mary Wesley's books, they are addictive. She creates excellent, sympathetic characters, sets them in interesting situations, and makes the plot move along, without resorting to caricatures or unbelievable coincidences. Plus, she knows how to write GOOD.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, January 16, 2003

By 

A. Harvey "AuraMatic" (Jacksonville, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Sensible Life (Paperback)

Amazing. Very sexy and exciting but not explicit and gratuitous. We meet Flora as a young lonely girl of ten on vacation with her selfish, neglectful parents. We follow her life as she matures to a beautiful woman. Three men love her but which does she love and which one will she choose. This is one book hard to put down.