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Marrying the Mistress

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Marrying the Mistress

By: Joanna Trollope
Narrated by: Lindsay Duncan
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Merrion Palmer has been Judge Guy Stockdale's mistress for the last seven years and his wife and two grown-up sons know absolutely nothing about her. Up until now, Guy and Merrion have enjoyed a blissfully, uncomplicated relationship in stolen moments in Merrion's flat, and to the rest of the world, Guy has played the part of model husband, father and grandfather.

But now the time has come for things to change. Guy has become conscious of wasted years and he wants to share his relationship with Merrion with the world. He wants, dammit, to marry her. Yet he is quite unprepared for the storm that will follow...

©2009 Joanna Trollope (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Romance Marriage
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Critic reviews

"The court official leaned closer. 'What's gone past', he said, 'is not just an advocate, any old lady advocate. What's gone past is his Honour's totty.'" And what's going past is the life of Guy Stockdale, a 62-year-old judge, who has been married forever, has two sons--Simon and Alan--and three grandchildren. For the past seven years, he's also had a mistress. Merrion Palmer is intelligent, attractive, and half Guy's age, which also makes her younger than both Simon and Alan. Her dad died when she was a toddler and she's well aware that Guy is something of a father substitute. For years the role of mistress has suited her, but, suddenly, this style of relationship isn't enough for either of them. They've both had enough of sneaking around and avoiding people, so Guy has momentously made up his mind to leave his wife, Laura, and marry Merrion. Marrying the Mistress dives into the shock waves that buffet the Stockdale family after Guy leaves Laura. The novel addresses the question of how his sons are going to cope, the explosive opinions of his forthright daughter-in-law Carrie and what his teenage grandchildren make of it all. Can any of them avoid taking sides? Should they? And what about the abandoned wife, Laura, a woman apparently so long-sufferingly self-sacrificing she makes Mother Teresa look selfish? From queen of the saga Joanna Trollope comes a dexterous portrayal of the causes and effects of marital breakdown." (Amazon.com review)
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Would you listen to Marrying the Mistress again? Why?

Joanna Trollope explores family life presenting the intimate emotional heart of it. This book is so respectful of the validity of all the characters needs and allows the reader to share their pain and confusion in such an intimate but gritty manner.

Joanna Trollope at her best !

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This is a brilliant novel about the ramifications of a long-term affair in which the partners love each other deeply. It examines the problems for them, and for their families, when they are separated by a large age gap.
It includes an excellent portrait of the unhealthy relationship between a possessive, manipulative mother and sensitive, dutiful son. It is perhaps more optimistic about how such involvement turn out than happens in real life.
We get to see it from every point of view: the lover’s children, his wife, his mistress, her mother, siblings and friends. The agony and the ecstasy are both there.
Lindsay Duncan ‘s narration, and the voices she gives to the characters, are beautifully suited to the story. It could not have been bettered.

Brilliant analysis of a long term affair

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Beautifully read, this very sad tale has many different aspects to it, all neatly developed. Anyone who is in a similar position should listen to this and beware! Sometimes you think that what you want will fulfil all your expectations, but the repercussions on other people need to be considered. The story develops very slowly but never lagged and was always interesting. I do recommend it.

Marrying the mistress

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The characters are all relatable, and I found it interesting as love stories so often are based on younger or middle aged people, but in this story there is a very big age difference and I don’t think this is often explored. As always with Joanna Trollope books, it is well written and this story was well narrated.

This is a very interesting story

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I loved this book when it came out, I had devoured all of the authors books. Having listened to this in 2024 I was struck how "wordy" this was. A dozen words used where two would suffice, and the idealistic, primly delivered views of the characters, maybe typical of its time. I wish I haven't revisited this, it made me annoyed at how self centred all the characters were.

Hasn't aged well

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