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Title details for The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu - Available

The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart

A Novel

by Mathias Malzieu
Jim Dale
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

Edinburgh, 1874. Born with a frozen heart, Jack is near dead when his mother abandons him to the care of Dr. Madeleine—witch doctor, midwife, protector of orphans—who saves Jack by placing a cuckoo clock in his chest. It is in her orphanage that Jack grows up, amid tear-filled flasks, eggs containing memories, and a man with a musical spine. Dr. Madeleine warns Jack that his heart is too fragile for strong emotions: he must never, ever fall in love. But of course, he does, on his tenth birthday, and with head-over-heels abandon, for a bespectacled young street performer with a soul-stirring voice. But it's not only Jack's heart that's at risk, it's his very life. Now begins a wild journey of escape and pursuit, from Edinburgh to Paris to Andalusia, where Jack will finally learn the great joys—and the greater costs—of owning a fully formed heart.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    March 1, 2010

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781481553605
      • File size: 140770 KB
      • Duration: 04:53:16

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This delightful fantasy contains all the components of a traditional fairy tale, but Malzieu's rich, often sexual, imagery carries it to a much more adult level. The celebrated Jim Dale is an inspired choice to present this quirky take on a timeless love story. His lovely English accent, gift for creating voices, and mastery of pace and intensity make this performance a real treat. Dale is perhaps best known for his delivery of children's books and classics such as the HARRY POTTER series and ALICE'S ADVENTURES in WONDERLAND. (For ALICE, he says, he enjoyed creating "over-the-top character voices.") Here Dale's skills will enthrall adult listeners as they enjoy the magic of Malzieu's enticing tale. M.O.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      December 7, 2009
      Set in late-19th-century Europe, this slim, melancholy, and sometimes thin novel affords considerable escapist pleasures. At 14, Jack, a misfit orphan with a cuckoo-clock installed in his chest, treks across Europe in search of Miss Acacia, “a little singer... who's always bumping into things,” he met four years before. In Paris, he finds a companion in Méliès, a lovesick, quixotic magician, and as their journey unfolds, Malzieu sketches European landscapes and crafts figurative language with irresistible relish: Miss Acacia's laugh, for instance, is “as light as beads tumbling over a xylophone.” After Jack reaches Spain and finds Miss Acacia, he embarks on a tumultuous relationship with his beloved that will alter his life forever. Despite a few too-cutesy sexual metaphors and coming-of-age tropes, the novel's sentimentality only rarely devolves into treacle. Calling to mind a host of cultural touchstones, from Pinocchio to The Wizard of Oz
      , this kaleidoscopic picaresque will enchant many adults and young people alike.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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