The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig

Narrated by Nicola Barber

Lauren Willig is the author who has me waiting anxiously for the next installment in her witty historical Pink Carnation series. I snapped up the opportunity to review this new stand-alone historical fiction novel. While she uses the same story technique – something historical alongside something almost contemporary – it’s a little different. In The Ashford Affair, there’s the story of the first generation, Addie, born in 1900, and her cousin Bea, as they grew up in England and then later as adults in Kenya in the 1920s; the counterpoint is the third generation, Clementine, in New York City as Addie celebrates in her 99th birthday, in 1999.

It’s more of a suspense than a romance (Willig considers it historical fiction). At the birthday party, Clementine learns there is a dark family secret about “Grandma Addie”. As she muddles through her own love-less life, married to her law firm while trying to make partner, Clemmie is struck with how little she knows about her own mother and grandmother and how that reflects the shallowness of her existence. In between the chapters of her story, we learn about Addie, who is an orphan sent to live with her cousin Bea and family. Bea is only 1 year older, but even at age 7 she’s quite a lot more mature. Bea leads Addie through life – she becomes a flapper and gets deep into the world of gin and cocaine as she watches her first husband dallying with other women. Addie follows Bea and her second husband to Kenya where their lives seem to implode.

What I missed in this book was Willig’s wit and humor. This is a more serious tome, darker, and while there is a happy ending for Clementine, there were also the less optimistic stories of Addie and Bea. The story was interesting, intriguing even, but I missed the lightness, the humorous alliteration, the silly twists of The Pink Carnation. At the end of The Ashford Affair, I felt sadness for what might have been, and not as much satisfaction for what was in store for Clementine as we read her wedding announcement. (Come on, that’s not a spoiler – it’s sort of romance!)

Nicola Barber is new to me as a narrator, but she has a vast biography of work both in acting and voice over. She is British-born and lives now in New York. She has a wide array of accents, including clear and credible American accents for Clementine and her friends. Honestly, though, her accents confused me a little – sometimes it sounded like it was leaning toward American-speaking-British, and other times the opposite. Her men’s voices were pitched appropriately low, but the tone and pacing were affected and not convincing, not natural. On the other hand, her Clementine and Addie voices were both very good, very natural. Overall her delivery was good and clear and easy to understand.

[section label=’Audiobook Information’ anchor=’Audiobook Information’]

Melinda

AUDIOBOOK INFORMATION

TITLE: The Ashford Affair

AUTHOR: Lauren Willig

NARRATED BY: Nicola Barber

GENRE: Historical Fiction with romantic elements

STEAM FACTOR: You can play it out loud

REVIEWER: Melinda [button type=’link’ link=’http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C9M88AQ/?tag=audiogalsnet-20′ size=’btn-lg’ variation=’btn-default’ target=’blank’]Buy The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig on Amazon[/button]