- Title:
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Jack of Diamonds
- Written by:
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Bryce Courtenay
- Read by:
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Humphrey Bower
- Format:
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Unabridged CD Audio Book
- Number of CDs:
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21
- Duration:
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26 hours 9 minutes
- Published:
-
November 01 2012
- Available Date:
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November 28 2012
- Age Category:
-
Adult
- ISBN:
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9781743100981
- Genres:
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Fiction; Australian Fiction; Sagas
- Publisher:
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Bolinda audio
Qty
Format
Price
Bolinda price
Winner AudioFile Earphones Award 2012
A sweeping saga of history and romance, from the jazz clubs of Toronto to the dark heart of Africa.
If poker was an addiction then music was an overwhelming obsession; one could never replace the other in my life.
During the Great Depression there was little hope for a boy born into the slums of Cabbagetown, Toronto. But Jack Spayd is offered a ticket out in the form of a Hohner harmonica, won by his brutal drunken father in a late-night card game. Jack makes music as a way of escaping his surroundings, and his talent leads him to a jazz club and, eventually, to the jazz piano.
Jack is a virtuoso and hits the road, enchanting audiences in Canada, wartime Europe and Las Vegas, where he is caught up in the world of elite poker and falls under the spell of his boss, the enigmatic Bridgett Fuller. Vegas is a hard town ruled by the Mafia, but Jack prospers, until his luck turns bad and he falls foul of the Mob. Forced to run for his life from Vegas, he must also leave the woman he adores. His adventuring takes him to the far reaches of Africa, to a rare and valuable bird that may seal his fate - and to the love of a very different woman.
Set across three continents, Jack of Diamonds is a spellbinding story of chance, music, corruption and love.
"Jack Spayd is pulled by his passion for jazz from Toronto's Depression slums, crosses continents, and mixes Las Vegas gambling and African diamonds in a splendid saga that spans half a century. This Australian author's last book has subtle shades of his famous THE POWER OF ONE. The life lessons for Jack Spayd resonate, and the lively historical scenes are memorable. In Humphrey Bower's narration, accents, genders, and nationalities appear fluidly and with total confidence. An occasional Canadian vowel or a quirky regionalism punctuates and individualizes the memorable characters, who often sport Dickensian names such as Miss Frostbite or Mr. Logical. Bower, the narrator of all of Courtenay's books, is joined at the hip with the author's storytelling. His mastery should put this and other works on listeners' “must' lists."
AudioFile Magazine