A Christmas Odyssey, Anne Perry
A Christmas Odyssey, Anne Perry
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

A Christmas Odyssey

Author: Anne Perry

Narrator: Terrence Hardiman

Unabridged: 4 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/01/2010


Synopsis

Henry Rathbone is called by an old friend whose son has gone missing just before the Christmas holiday. Now in his early twenties, Lucien has known trouble for some time and has often fallen victim to the vices of drugs, alcohol, and women. His father now fears the worst. Their old friend, Squeaky Robinson, volunteers to help as well. Henry agrees and, joined by Crow, a young doctor at the clinic, the pair trawls the pubs, brothels, and opium dens of the West End in search of clues.

About Anne Perry

Sometimes the personal story of a particular author seems almost as intriguing as the books they write. Such is the life of British author Anne Perry (aka Juliet Marion Hulme). As a child Hulme was very ill with tuberculosis and ended up being fostered out by a family in the Caribbean. She did get better, and the family moved to a private island in New Zealand, where she describes her life as a Swiss family Robinson type existence. She became ill again and during her bouts of illness through her teen years, she missed most of her childhood education. However, her mother had prepared her by teaching her how to read and write by the time she was four. Her heart always seemed to be in writing.

At the age of 15, Juliet and her best friend plotted and killed her friend's mother. The three went for a walk in the park and Hulme dropped a stone, causing the mother to bend over to pick it up, and her friend hit her own mother on the head with a half brick. They had planned on the strike killing her, but they had to strike her 20 times before she was dead. The girls were put on trial and each served five years in prison. It is said that they never saw each other again after being released. For many years, nobody connected author Anne Perry as the teen murderer, Juliet Hulme. In 1994, the film Heavenly Creatures, portrayed Hulme and her friend Pauline Parker with characters being played by Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey respectively.

Perry's genre of writing covers Victorian Era Detective fiction for the most part. Her novels have been centered around two main characters, Thomas Pitt and William Monk. She has published 47 novels and several collections of stories.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lisa on February 02, 2011

I checked this book out before Christmas thinking that it was a nice little story of Christmas and redemption in Victorian England. Some of that is true, but it is a very dark tale a wayward son that has been lured into a world of drugs, murder, and wild passion. Most of the story centers on the thr......more

Goodreads review by Lara on January 05, 2022

I thought I'd go outside my comfort zone and give a chance to a commercial cozy Christmas book in the sappy spirit of the season, but instead got something grittier than advertised. In fact, there's little Christmas content at all. I dislike the cover -- far too flat-cozy-cute for the Victorian unde......more

Goodreads review by Brent on September 17, 2018

This is the 8th book from Perry's Christmas Stories series-the series that really has nothing to do with Christmas with the exception of the time the story takes place. A very dark Christmas season is upon you in reading this selection from Perry. We are in the 1800's in London ten days before Christ......more

Goodreads review by Caroline on November 13, 2017

Longer than it needed to be - liked the idea of a story of Christmas redemption, but not enough of that side of it for my taste......more

Goodreads review by Sharon on December 30, 2020

There is very little Christmas in this book, but it is a good story. Henry promises a friend that he will try to find his friend's son who had seemingly disappeared shortly before Christmas into the drug infested underworld of Victorian London . Henry has no idea how to go about his search so he tur......more


Quotes

“Anne Perry is definitely visiting Dickensian territory here, as there was no other writer better at depicting the dark side of London life coupled with the plight of human redemption than Charles Dickens. A Christmas Odyssey is a dark tale that will guide readers to the light via the strength of human spirit that each of Perry’s characters possesses.” BookReporter.com