A Single Breath by Lucy Clarke

Narrated by Fiona Hardingham and Shaun Grindell

What is left when everything you thought to be true turns out to be a lie? How can you move on? How much can be forgiven? In A Single Breath, author Lucy Clarke introduces us to a remarkable heroine who must find the answers to these questions if she hopes to make a life for herself after the death of her husband.

Eva and Jackson have been married for less than a year. They’re deeply in love, and Eva couldn’t want anything more. She’s a successful midwife, and Jackson works in finance. All of that changes one morning, when Jackson dies in a fishing accident, leaving Eva alone and bereft.

Jackson never told Eva much about his family. In hopes of helping herself come to terms with his death, she leaves London and heads to the island of Tasmania, where Jackson’s father and brother live. She’s hoping for comfort, but she finds something totally different.

Saul doesn’t want Eva around. He knows things about his dead brother that would wound her even more than she has already been wounded. For a reason he can’t explain, he is reluctant to add to her pain. He’s attracted to her, but he knows better than to act on it.

The narration of A Single Breath was quite odd, in this listener’s opinion. Fiona Hardingham does the majority of the narrating, whether the story is being told from Eva’s point of view or from Saul’s. Shaun Grindell appears in short segments, speaking as Jackson. I can’t explain why it was done this way without giving away a huge part of the book. What I can say is that the random switch in narration was jarring. Personally, I would have preferred it if Ms. Hardingham had been the sole narrator.

Having said that, I did like what I heard of Shaun Grindell. His Australian accent fit Jackson perfectly. I can’t say anything about his depiction of other characters since that wasn’t his duty here. The parts he read were written in first person, from Jackson’s point of view. There was no dialogue, just narrative.

Ms. Hardingham is a very skilled narrator, and I’ll definitely listen to her again, if given the chance. She’s British, which suited Eva perfectly. The book is written mostly in third person, with a good mix of narrative and dialogue. Ms. Hardingham did not disappoint in either of these areas.

The characters, both male and female, were easy to tell apart. Ms. Hardingham used a wide variety of accents and pitches to make sure everyone was distinctly voiced. I couldn’t have asked for a better job.

I was very impressed with Ms. Hardingham’s ability to switch quickly from a British accent to an Australian one. This was necessary a great deal of the time, especially when Eva and Saul were together. She never faltered, and neither accent came off as forced.

Parts of A Single Breath were predictable, but Ms. Clarke did a good job of adding plot twists that turned the predictable parts into something just different enough to keep me engaged. Normally, I’m bored if I have most of the book figured out before the characters do, but this wasn’t the case here.

I would recommend this book to those of you who enjoy romantic suspense with likable characters and a plot with lots of twists.

Shannon

Narration:  Fiona Hardingham – A   Shaun Grindell – B (only because I’m not sure what he’s truly capable of)

Book Content:  A-

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in (only one sex scene toward the end of the book)

Violence:  Escalated fighting

Genre:  Contemporary Romance

Publisher:  Blackstone Audio

A Single Breath was provided to AudioGals for review by Blackstone Audio.