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There are currently 42 member reviews
for Ellie and the Harpmaker
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Janet S. (Terrace Park, OH)
Enjoyable Book
What a wonderful, charming book. Great story of friendship and love. You just never know what curves life will throw at and how these curves will change your life...many times for the better. I enjoyed this book. Kudos to the author.
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Betty C. (Concord, CA)
Ellie and the Harpmaker
I enjoyed this book. I especially like Dan not only the way he viewed life but also how he felt about the people in his life.
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Darlene G. (Allegany, NY)
The Heart of Character
This was a tender and easy read. The author, Hazel Prior does a lovely job with tension, so even though you imagine you "know" the ending, there are still enough questions and twists and turns to keep you reading. Also, because the setting and characters are from the UK (and I am from the US), there are fun interesting turns of phrase that keep the writing lively. I gave a "very good" and said an "easy" read because the characters were refreshingly sweet but not without flaws, and there were enough rough-edged characters and situations to keep it from being a total fairytale. I did at times wonder about the harpmaker character - if a real person could be quite this innocent and perceptive without being simple-minded and therefore not a good intellectual match for Ellie.
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Mary C. (Plano, TX)
Ellie and the Harpmaker
People read for all sorts of reasons, but after reading the cover of this book, I had no clear-cut idea about what to expect. Ellie and the Harpmaker is an unexpected gem of a novel with imperfect characters who make your heart ache for them. I found it insightful to be an omnipotent insider, privy to the thoughts and longings of the main characters, waiting for them to hopefully come to the same realizations that I had about their lives. Dan the harp maker finds more solace in the nature around him rather than to people sounds a note that all could heed. As I finished this book, I realized that it was not at all what I expected. It was a wonderful mingling of some lovable (and some not so lovable) characters who take you on a voyage of discovery for themselves and, if you read closely, perhaps invaluable discoveries for the reader too.
I would definitely recommend this book to book clubs. In fact, I will do so to mine!
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Betty B. (Irving, TX)
Harps and Hearts
I found Ellie and the Harpmaker to be an unexpected gift, heartwarming and touching. I liked the characters...I could both visualize them and hear them (and almost hear the beautiful music the harps made). And I was deeply touched by Ellie and Dan as they alternately told their story. While this book is easy to read, it is not a simple book and I think most readers will enjoy it. It would be an excellent selection for my own book club.
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Jan M. (Broken Arrow, OK)
Sweet Story
Oh my goodness I loved this book. It was a sweet story with such dear and gentle characters along with a couple of really ugly ones that made me love the main ones all the more. I don't know anything about the writer, but I am impressed with her ability to create word pictures and develop personalities. As I read the book, I became well acquainted with the personality of each of the characters in the book, some I loved and some I detested (Clive for example).
I don't often read an entire book in one sitting, but this one hooked me and wouldn't let me go until the end. I'm hoping this is the beginning of a series as I would like to follow the lives of Dan and Ellie and little Ed. This book was like a mini vacation from all the anger and discord in today's news and I am certainly going to suggest my book club include it in their schedule.
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Amy R. (Belmont, MA)
A charming jaunt
'There's a sharp tug in my guts. The plum picking day is sacred in my memory, something I want to wrap in tissue paper and fold away tenderly and take out often to gaze at before I fold it away tenderly again.' This is the vivid descriptiveness that Hazel Prior uses throughout the book making the reading experience visually imaginative. I rarely give a 5 star review, however I fell in love with these quirky characters and the quiet quaintness this read provides. The pages kept quickly turning up to the bitter end!
I'd like to thank BookBrowse for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
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