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The Soldier’s Wife: A Novel Audiobook
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(3.00) - 517 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
The Soldier’s Wife examines how three generations of a family struggle with the impact of war on their relationships, long after the tour of duty is over. Dan Riley is a major in the British Army. After a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan, he is coming home to the wife and young daughters he adores. The outside world sees these reunions as a taste of heaven after months of hell. But are they? Can a man trained to fight adjust again to family and domestic life? And how will the family cope if he can’t? To what extent can Alexa, Dan’s wife, sacrifice her own needs and fulfillment to support his commitment to a way of life that demands everything, not just of him, but of her and the children as well? What happens when love and a vocation collide head-on? With her trademark intelligence and kind, clear-eyed insight, Joanna Trollope shows us a family striving to balance duty and ambition with intimacy and understanding.
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"I was drawn to this title since I have a family member in Afghanistan. The life of a member of any military branch is hard on all the family. There is always a conflict between duty and the bonds of family. Trollope does an excellent job of showing the complex ups-and-downs of army family life."
— Deborah (4 out of 5 stars)
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“Written with all Trollope’s customary skill and panache, this is an absorbing look at the modern military wife who no longer automatically follows the drum.”
— Mail (London) -
“A deservedly popular writer, but she isn’t a frivolous one…A cracking read,…compassionate, humorous, and topical.”
— Spectator -
“Nobody understands the snags and frustrations of family life better than Joanna Trollope…exquisite…a serious story that is unraveled sensitively.”
— Sunday Express (London) -
“Trollope is on top form, hitting the zeitgeist with this perceptive and compassionate inside story of an army marriage.”
— Women & Home -
“A penetrating study of military families and the potential conflicts between duty and love, The Soldier’s Wife bears all of Trollope’s trademarks: an affecting, well-constructed story; elegantly restrained prose; explorations of the ramifications of change; and, above all, characters conceived and nurtured with care. Those characters are people we know, people who might be our neighbors, ordinary people rendered with extraordinary perception and grace by an author who never fails to impress and whose journeys into the human condition always satisfy.”
— Richmond Times-Dispatch
The Soldier’s Wife Listener Reviews
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" Not a real page turner at all..slow moving, nothing spectacular. Certainly not a bad book, but not one that will make your heart race. "
— Claire, 2/7/2014 -
" Something light for skiing.... Enjoyed the book and liked sharing many characters points of view. Seemed well researched. Difficult for non army people to understand the dynamics. "
— Estelle, 2/6/2014 -
" I read mixed reviews about this one and wasn't sure if I was going to like it (especially because it was about a British soldier's family and the reprecussions of him returning from Afganistan), but it turned out better than I'd expected. Certainly not her best, but still a good read. It's hard to dislike a Joanna Trollope novel! "
— Colleen, 2/4/2014 -
" Usually love Trollope but just couldn't get into this one--too much military stuff for me "
— Mary, 2/2/2014 -
" I really liked how the author presented each character's perspective. She seems very knowlegable about family dynamics and her writing is concise and insightful. "
— Pat, 1/31/2014 -
" Chewy and satisfying. Rang true to my own American USAF Brat experience. "
— Melissa, 1/21/2014 -
" This was such a disappointment. It is well below Trollope's former standard in all respects; poor writing, trite plot, stereotypical characterisation, and dialogue which made me wince. Was the subject matter simply too ambitious; or has Trollope lost her ability to write with conviction and grace? "
— MN, 1/20/2014 -
" Very hard to read. Disjointed. "
— Karen, 1/16/2014 -
" A good readable story about modern wives of career military men, but it wasn't as gripping as the other books of hers I've read. Just OK. "
— Pat, 1/2/2014 -
" While I really enjoy most of Joanna Trollope's books, this one is the best yet, to my mind. She is just an extraordinary writer here. "
— Mary, 12/29/2013 -
" Probably not a brilliant idea to be reading this as a soldier's wife waiting for her husband to return from Afghanistan! I have to say I found it rather depressing and only stayed up late to finish it so I could get onto something more cheery! "
— Clare, 12/17/2013 -
" Find this book at Hillingdon Libraries "
— Hillingdon, 12/12/2013 -
" Review in 8-2012 issue of RT BookReviews magazine. "
— Victoria, 12/7/2013 -
" I am a big Joanna Trollope fan, having read all of her books, but this one just didn't measure up to many of her others. Quite diasppointing. "
— Karen, 7/14/2013 -
" While this book is personally topical my partner currently being deployed with the British Army I found that the characters were shallow and one dimensional, and there was very little about any of them to actually like. "
— Kathryn, 5/29/2013 -
" Didn't do anything for me. "
— Michelle, 12/2/2012 -
" Easy read. Not taxing. Didn't really attach myself to any of the characters which I usually like to do. Probably liked Claire, Brigadier Julien's wife the most and she was only featured in a few pages but loved her statement, "it won't do any harm to ask instead of telling, for a change". "
— Nicola, 11/24/2012 -
" A truly great book, one of the best by Joanna Trollope. Very timely subject, characters so believable one can almost engage them in conversation.. "
— Alexandra, 8/8/2012
About Joanna Trollope
Joanna Trollope, a descendant of nineteenth-century English novelist Anthony Trollope, is the author of historical novels and a study of women in the British Empire. However, she has become best known for her lively contemporary novels, often centered on the nuances and dilemmas of domestic life in England. She has now written seven of these novels. Joanna Trollope was born and still lives in Gloucestershire, England.
About Charlotte Anne Dore
Charlotte Anne Dore is a member of SAG/AFTRA and AEA. She works in theater and film around New England. She played Elizabeth Hopkins in The American Experience and was a gorilla puppeteer in Zookeeper. She runs the award-winning Rosalita’s Puppets. As a storyteller, she has worked for Ghost and Gravestones ghost tour and Read Boston, a summer reading program.