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  • A View Across the Rooftops

  • Written by: Suzanne Kelman
  • Narrated by: Alan Medcroft
  • Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (146 ratings)

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A View Across the Rooftops

Written by: Suzanne Kelman
Narrated by: Alan Medcroft
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Publisher's Summary

Would you risk your life to save just one person?

An incredible story of love, hope, and friendship; and a testament to humanity and courage in history’s darkest days.

1941, Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Professor Josef Held has never recovered from the loss of his beloved wife - and has no intention of ever letting anyone new into his quiet, safe world. It is a world where the clock ticks steadily in his mathematics classroom, where every equation has a solution. Every day he walks the same route home, past his neighbour Mrs Epstein’s, to a home inhabited only by him and a cat he refuses to even name.

But then the Nazis come for the Jews - and Mrs Epstein is killed. And Josef, in an impulsive act of courage, offers his student Michael Blum a place to hide.

Michael is everything Josef is not: spontaneous, poetic, and unafraid to love. Even though his passionate relationship with a Dutch girl called Elke strictly is forbidden by the Nazis - for he is Jewish, and she is not.

Desperate to give Michael and Elke’s love a chance to survive, Josef gives Michael refuge in his attic: an act of bravery and resistance that will change both of their lives. But as the dark days of war continue, with danger and betrayal at every turn, no-one can be trusted, and no one is safe.

If Michael is going to get back to the woman he loves, it is down to Josef - to find the hero inside himself, and do whatever it takes to keep Michael alive.

A heartbreakingly beautiful story about love, trust, and courage against the odds, perfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Lilac Girls, and The Nightingale.

©2019 Suzanne Kelman (P)2019 Bookouture

What listeners say about A View Across the Rooftops

Average Customer Ratings
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    1 out of 5 stars
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No!

This is too much like a cheap Harlequin romance story. At least in the first few chapters that’s what it seems. I don’t want to risk listening to more to see if it gets better, because I was told that if I listen extensively, I cannot return this to Audible.

9 people found this helpful

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Beautiful story, bizarre voice performance

This story is beautiful and enthralling; however, the choice for only one male performer didn’t work for me. Having a male narrator depicting a female character’s thoughts in a sexual assault and the other female characters in their most vulnerable (I.e. the voice of Eva) was unusual and didn’t work at all. Having a male and female narrator would have been much more effective.

8 people found this helpful

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Gripping Story

I loved everything about this book, the writing was superb and the narrator was just excellent, a perfect match from narrator to story.

4 people found this helpful

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recommend

gripping story I could not stop listening to it. If you like All the Stories We Could Not Tell. or The Huntress I think you will enjoy this also.

3 people found this helpful

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Wow!

I loved this book. This book is right up there with, 'We were the lucky ones,' by Georgia Hunter, 'The Nightingale' by Kristin Hannah and 'Lilac Girls' by Martha Hall Kelly. I added these books as I found out about 'A view Across the Rooftops' from a review that someone wrote on a different book. I read the Audible.com reviews as well as the Audible.ca reviews.

I enjoyed the narrator and the characters and their story in the book. It usually takes me a while to get through an audio book as I tend to listen when driving, or working on different project so I generally listen for a couple hours at a time. I put on my headphones and listened to this book over two days and thoroughly enjoyed it.

2 people found this helpful

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A captivating story

compelling story of the lives of ordinary Dutch in extraordinary circumstances. Keen insights into human responses to loss. enjoyed it very much.

1 person found this helpful

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OUTSTANDING

Best book I've ever read. It warmed my heart, it is emotionally charged, it has hope, love, and tragedy. The horror of that time can never be forgotten and needs to be told again and again, so we never forget the atrocities that were committed or the bravery of so many.

1 person found this helpful

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Captivating

Right from the start I felt like I was watching a very engaging movie. The writers descriptions literally make you "see" the story unfolding. The story was so captivating, both my husband and I enjoyed listening to this audio book on our road trip.
I've never listened to this author before, but guaranteed I will look for more book by this writer. Excellent book, would highly recommend it to any one. I feel like it is even a family friendly read/listen

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Excellent!

This is a very interesting and moving story, but in many instances very predictable. The characters are mostly believable, even though they are sometimes too perfect. The horror of the war was intermingled with the courage, betrayal and love stories. I had enjoyed listening the book..

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Lovely story

Loverly story that I couldn't stop listening.
Narrator was good. Story interesting and kept my attention all the time. Definitely read /listen something else from same writer.

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  • Daylelianna
  • 2019-10-30

Didn’t want it to end!

This was a wonderful story. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Totally engrossing , characters engaging and well developed. An interesting look at occupied Amsterdam. Well done Suzanne and the narrator was great as well. Definitely worth a credit! Best book I’ve listened to in a while and I listen to many.

22 people found this helpful

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  • paula wright
  • 2019-10-28

WOW what a great audible book

I spent a good part of the book thinking main character was a very weak man seemed to be scared of life but he proved me wrong I was thinking what a good movie this could be made into

17 people found this helpful

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  • NICK J.
  • 2019-12-18

Touching

I couldn’t stop listening from the very beginning. The narrator did a fantastic job bringing these characters and their anguish of living during the war to life. I’ve listened to hundreds of books about the pain of war and this is one of the most captivating stories of all. It deserves more than five stars.

13 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Patsgrl
  • 2020-01-28

FANTASTIC

The BEST book I have found in a long time. Just as great as The Nightingale!

11 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • kramwhite
  • 2019-12-18

Fantastic

This is now one of my favorite books. The story is very good. The performance was outstanding.

11 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Book Nerd
  • 2019-12-28

Emotional Journey

What a touching and emotional story about love, loss, life and redemption set in the midst of the Nazi occupation of Holland. A story of human courage in the face of some of the greatest evil this world has ever known. This book will make you laugh, touch your heart and if you’re like me it will make you cry. I wholeheartedly recommend any and everybody to get this book.

10 people found this helpful

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  • Kathy sparano
  • 2019-11-22

Loved this book!

This book is terrific. I’ve read a lot of books on the holocaust and occupation and this book did not disappoint. I liked that the story continued on after the war ended. The ending was a surprise. I did not watch TV during the two weeks it took me to finish listening to the book.

10 people found this helpful

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  • Tiffany R.
  • 2020-02-20

phenomenal book

This is one of the best books I have read or listened to. It was well paced and laid out. The characters were so real. I enjoyed the narration although some of his accents weren't super great. He had a pleasant voice in general.

8 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Boho-Chic
  • 2021-03-18

nothing original; rudimentary writing skills

Decent enough to pass the time in a pandemic, as long as you don't care much about writing quality.
Reader is good. The story is decent, though nothing original.
You may cringe, as I continually did, at the numerous, embarrassing attempts at flushing out characters & events using the most simplistic, wooden verbiage. The whole thing never reaches anything close to storytelling mastery, and mostly rings hollow.
Yet good enough if you're ok with non-brilliant writing (like this reviewer's) and just want to be taken away.

7 people found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 2020-01-11

Loved it!!!

Captured my attention from the begging and all the way through the end! Loved all the history interspersed with the human side of the story!

7 people found this helpful