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The Grit in the Pearl
- The Scandalous Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll
- Narrated by: Lucy Rayner
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
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The Grit in the Pearl
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Summary
Margaret, Duchess of Argyll (1912-1993) was an international celebrity in her youth, adored and observed by millions. But in 1963, the year of the Profumo Affair, the 11th Duke of Argyll shocked the country when he alleged that his adulterous wife had slept with over 80 men behind his back. He produced, as his evidence, a set of sexually explicit Polaroid photographs and explosive love letters. The duke won a divorce, but this had a dramatic effect on Margaret's life. On the verge of financial destitution, she fell from grace and was abandoned by most of her friends prior to her death in a nursing home in Pimlico in 1993.
Lyndsy Spence tells a tragic story of the life and downfall of this fascinatingly complex woman, and shows how she fell victim to a cruel husband, harsh social mores, and an unforgiving class. It uses new sources, including taped conversations, an unexpurgated transcript of her divorce trial, interviews, and letters. The Grit in the Pearl is a meticulously researched and powerful biography, which acts as a potent lens on various themes in the last century: fame, privacy, the media, sex, power, and relationships between classes.
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What listeners say about The Grit in the Pearl
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Pen Browning
- 11-01-22
Toast of London
the narrator has an interesting intonation with unique emphasis in last word in a sentence. It reminds me of Matt Berry in the TV series 'Toast of London " LOL.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- mrs
- 05-12-23
Strange narration
An interesting read but hard to get over the very strange narration. After a while I could ignore it but it certainly detracted from the story
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- MaxG
- 07-01-22
Great story - awful narration
The narrator was awful. Far too much inflection and pace (short sentences) was a massive distraction. Sing song and not naturally voiced - I did wonder if this voice was computer generated.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lorraine Rutherford
- 25-10-23
Had me hooked
Interesting life story of a very charismatic women. Had me hooked from the start, narration could have been better.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ola
- 10-06-21
Fascinating
Despite the negative comments about the narrator, I decided to buy this book as I was fascinated by the subject matter. This is incredibly well researched and written I have no regrets . Re the narrator, she has a wonderful pitch to her voice, the issue I think for some people, is with her intonation. It did take me a while to get used to this but in the end I found the whole experience very enjoyable.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 04-05-23
Ruined by awful narration.
The narrator is awful she sounds like Linda Snell in The Archers. The story is very interesting.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- M. Coakley
- 17-03-23
Fascinating !
I really enjoyed the life story of this fascinating but not likeable woman. Great research. The narration was somewhat annoying though.
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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
- janice richardson
- 05-09-22
affected delivery!!! groan.
the delivery of this book completely spoilt my experience whilst Rayner had dulcet tones her performance was dreadful... her breathing stops just did not work and spoilt the flow of the story... it nearly killed me to listen to it... I almost abandoned by it five minutes in... content goodish but no meant on the bones... no in-depth anything... I feel it lacked real research....
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 25-01-23
Fabulous and interesting story…
The narrator, as mentioned by other reviewers, has a really effected, breathy voice with really strange inflections. The only way I got through listening was imagining it was being narrated by Matt Berry as Toast of London and then it amused me enough to continue…
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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
- Ms A Raney
- 05-01-24
A fascinating woman!
I didn’t know anything about this woman and this biography had me entranced. The narrator was well measured and delivered the content with eloquent detail.
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