Review | Sarah Vaughan’s charming tale benefits from Clare Corbett’s narrative magic
Corbett, winner of Audible’s narrator of the year, shows why she’s the best in this reading of Vaughan’s second world war story
by Sarah Vaughan (read by Clare Corbett)
Hodder & Stoughton (audiobook)
Book reviews usually focus on the author, the book or both. But my interest here is in Clare Corbett, who has just won Audible’s audiobook narrator of the year. This has quite a lot to do with her biggest credit to date: Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train. The Farm at the Edge of the World is a charming if familiar tale of redemption. A woman whose life has collapsed returns to the family farm, which at the start of the second world war staged a tragedy involving two evacuees and the farmer’s daughter. The story displays all of Corbett’s talents. Her basic narration is clear, thoughtful and friendly, but can sharpen to action and even violence. Best of all, she doesn’t over-read, allowing the words to work their wonder. And isn’t that the point of an audiobook?
