Alentejo Blue (by Monica Ali) app for iPhone and iPad

ALENTEJO BLUE by Monica Ali (unabridged) is presented by Blackstone Audio and comes with what is perhaps the best audiobook app available (see FEATURES, below).

“A master of concision and suggestion, the author says volumes about characters and situations by what she does’nt say.”(Brad Hooper, Booklist)

In this collection of stories set in the village of Alentejo, Portugal, Teresa is a young girl resisting an arranged marriage. The Pottses are a family of ex-patriots trying to cobble a life together; and two young tourists engaged to be married confront each other’s weaknesses for the first time.

Self-contained, this audiobook app is perfect for your commute, on a trip, or while relaxing. Based on a library-quality recording, this app was built especially for your iPhone and iPod Touch. No unreadable text, no endless scrolling on a tiny screen. The audio is of higher-than-normal quality, making for a great listening experience that will not tire your ears or grate on your nerves.

NOTICE: This app includes the exact same 5-star recording offered elsewhere at much higher prices. It was professionally recorded by Blackstone Audio’s Audie® Award-winning narrator Anna Fields. You are not buying yet another amateur or volunteer narration. No clicks, background noises, throat clearing, mispronunciations, tinny voices or monotones will be found here.

“The simultaneous sense of stasis and great change is Alis forte, and her characters perceptions are sharp.” (Publishers Weekly)

•EXPERIENCE. About 8 hours of narration. Created as a Folium enhancedAudio™ edition, this book includes extra functions and features not found on lesser players.

•PLAYER CONTROLS. Includes listen (play), pause, multi-speed fast forward/reverse, jump ahead/back, chapter skip, volume control, one-touch chapter- and bookmark browser. There is also a “scrub” bar that finds any point inside the chapter with just a tap.

•SLEEP TIMER. Have you ever fallen asleep watching TV or listening to a book? If so, youll love this feature. Once set, the book will stop, place a bookmark, and allow you to jump back to where you probably began dozing.

•CLEAR & ELEGANT DESIGN. Simple, clean, intuitive, and smarter than average.

•CHAPTER TIMINGS. Always know how much time it will take to finish a chapter. Plus, the progress bar at the top of the screen shows how far into the book you’ve come.

•OFFLINE LISTENING. You are airplane-ready! Once downloaded, listen uninterrupted without threat from a lost network connection. Downloads are usually just 5-10 minutes, but depend upon your network speed.

•AUTO-BOOKMARKING. The player remembers where you stopped listening and returns to that exact spot when you open the book again.

•TELL-A-FRIEND. An easy way to recommend the book to your friends or Twitter feed.

•FEEDBACK. Share your ideas for books, functions, and features. We are very responsive to our listeners and appreciate all feedback and ideas.


RATING: 9+ Suitable for adults who like short stories or enjoy literary fiction.

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Monica Alis stunning second book is a collection of stories set in the Alentejo province of Portugal, linked by characters and by a vivid sense of place and time.

Teresa is a beautiful young girl from the village who is supposed to marry a suitable man from the same community but who wants to see the world. Vasco is a café owner who is losing business to the new internet café down the road. The unseemly, dysfunctional, but strangely riveting Pottses are a family of expatriates, trying to cobble a life together, at odds with one another until they run into trouble on the outside. We also meet several English tourists: a young couple engaged to be married and confronting each other’s weaknesses and idiosyncrasies for the first time and an older woman imagining a new life, fantasizing about never returning home.