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The Final Confession of Mabel Stark

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The Final Confession of Mabel Stark

Written by: Robert Hough
Narrated by: Betty Bobbitt
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About this listen

Barely five feet tall, suicidally courageous, obsessed with tigers, and sexually eccentric, Mabel Stark was the greatest female tiger trainer in history. Clad in her leather suits and married five times, she was the Mae West of tiger taming. In the 1910s and 1920s, when circus was the most popular entertainment in America, Mabel Stark was the biggest attraction for the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey circus.

This vibrant and moving fictional autobiography begins in 1968. Mabel is turning 80 and is about to lose her job. Faced with the loss of her beloved cats, she looks back on her life, her escapades and tragedies, her love affairs with tigers and men. She confronts her darkest secrets, her guilt at committing "the worst thing one person can do to another". Now, with the end of life in sight, there is one thing above all else she needs to do. Mabel wants to confess.

Exuberant and inventive, The Final Confession of Mabel Stark transports its readers to the carnival world of the Big Top to an age before cinema and television, when circus performers were superstars.

©2001 Robert Hough (P)2004 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
Biographical Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction

Editorial Reviews

Within seconds, listeners will realize there’s no one more fit to perform this wild and magical biography than veteran narrator Bobby Bobbitt. With her slight twang and raspy authority, Bobby brings to life Robert Hough’s fantastical version of Mabel Stark’s moving story. The Final Confession of Mabel Stark is an inventive and clever combination of fact and fiction, as Hough’s Mabel looks back on her life as one of the greatest tiger trainers in history. Full of all the romance, tragedy, and conquests that is associated with the real Mabel Stark, this audiobook is an extraordinary marriage of fact and fiction that will have listeners glued to their headphones.

Critic Reviews

"Robert Hough pulls together fact and fiction to unfurl a life that invites sheer, slack-jawed fascination." (Time)

"A marvelous debut narrated with delicious humour and warmth. Just about perfect. One of the most entertaining novels in many a year." (Kirkus)

"Listeners are treated to Betty Bobbitt's performance of the indomitable, unconventional Mabel Stark.... Bobbitt's raspy voice and full-throated chuckle perfectly draw Mabel's sassy attitude, complete with period diction, circus lore, and Kentucky twang." (AudioFile)

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