I had many problems with the audiobook version but as I had been enjoying the first part that I'd managed to listen to, I decided to borrow the physical book from the library.
I very much enjoyed the whole story - the characters, the plot, the tension and the atmosphere of wartime London and Holland. Beautifully written, this is a must read for historical fiction fans.

At the beginning of WWII, the Netherlands were invaded long before France. The Dutch resistance were working with London to share information to try and stop Hitler. This story taught me about a Pianist: A person who operates or controls a radio transmitter – often in code. Marnie Fern works for the BBC, but when her grandfather is killed in an air raid, she finds out that he was working undercover as a pianist, a radio operator, with the Dutch resistance. She quickly figures out the code and begins to transmit messages to his contact, known as Daisy. She takes on the name of Lizzy, from one of her favourite books. When there is no response one night, Willem heads to Amsterdam to see if they can find out what happened to her. Marnie convinces his co-resistance worker to take her to Amsterdam to try and find Willem, so they set off. What has happened to Daisy, aka Corrie Bakker, Willem's mother. His sister, Kees, has already been killed, his mother must survive. Where is Willem now?

Although this story is not based on one real person, it is the culmination of many resistance fighters. Research using personal diaries helped flesh out the characters in the resistance as well as Marnie who was based on Marjorie Redman, a sub-editor for The Spectator Magazine. Lothar Selig is an evil German officer, who is trying to work his way up in Hitler's favour. He is ruthless, yet vain as well. This is used against him. Although this is historical fiction, settings and events, such as hiding wanted persons in the Artis Zoo actually happened. The characters are brave, smart, willing to give up their lives to save others, and tenacious. They move from place to place while sending messages so as not to get caught. Once they complete a mission they are on, the story quickly wraps up, a bit too quickly for me, as I had become invested in this story and it felt a bit rushed to me. The War Pianist is a book about courage, family, loss, betrayal, espionage, bravery, strength, resolve and love. It was well written and researched, what I have come to expect from Mandy Robotham's books. I liked that I learned about another aspect of WW2 and the terrible things that happened. We must never forget. Holly Janowski narrated this audiobook and she did a fine job. I have not heard her before, but I enjoyed her performance.

Like other reviewers everything was fine until around chapter 40 when the recording was stuck on repeat. I continued but the problem became worse in later chapters and continuity was lost. This was both frustrating and a shame; I was enjoying it and would like to follow it to the end. I have purchased a Kindle copy so I will finish it with a proper review on Goodreads etc the rating listed is based upon the audio I have managed to hear.

Narration - excellent

Liked the idea of the two women and getting different perspectives of the war from the different sides of the channel. The descriptions of life in London were very atmospheric - Lyons tea house, Langans, the bombs, the rationing.

Keen to discover what it is like in Holland as it appears that is where the danger and jeopardy will be.

Thanks to Net Galley and Harper Audio for the access

I am enjoying listening to The War Pianist. I would love to finish this book but the audio started glitching at chapter 40 and although I have tried it on several devices it seems to be the file itself.
I would love to find out how this ends.

I had really been loving listening to this audio book, but from chapter 40 onwards it all went wrong - for some reason the audio started totally playing up -initially part way through the chapter it got 'stuck' just repeating the same phrase over and over again, and this happened for a couple of chapters, and then I found that the rest of the book allowed me to listen to no more than a word at the beginning of the chapers. So I have no idea how this book ends! To say I was gutted would be an understatement. I can't even request an ARC of the ebook now as it has been archived. IF the publishers are able to send me an electronic copy so I can finish the story I'd be very happy to write my review - which based on the rest of the book that I have listened to would have been a 5*

Another cracker from Mandy Robotham. Action and adventure and spying. What’s not to love about this book.

4* for what I managed to get through..

From chapter 40 onwards each track skips and repeats the same 3 words for the rest of the chapter then casual moves on to the next one as if nothing happened. Baffling.

This is one of the best world war 2 stories I have listened to. The listener (me) became engrossed from the first page. It is written well and read well. I couldn’t stop listening, every opportunity I had I came back to it, waiting with bated breath to find out what happens next. Effectively there are three scenes each bringing their own drama : London in the blitz; Arriving in Holland and how they survive; getting home and life thereafter. It is all realistic and plausible and the atmosphere is captured by the Holly Janowski..
Thank you Mandy Robotham for bring us this wonderful story, thanks to Holly for reading it so well and to HarperCollins UK Audio for allowing me to listen.

Thank you HarperCollins UK Audio, Avon
and Netgalley for this alc. It was a special.think to get to know the "radio connection" during the war.. London and Amsterdam. Maybe a little slow but unique and the ending was good and I really wanted to know more.