Shades of Black

The Life and Death of George Weeks

By: Debbie Manber Kupfer

Narrated by: Paul Winter

In 1952, London experienced the Great Smog. Around 4,000 people died and 100,000 became sick. It was this event that led Parliament to pass the Clean Air Act of 1956, which paved the way to cleaner air and was an important milestone in the protection of the environment.

But what if the act was never passed? What if a young and unscrupulous politician and businessman had blocked its passing?

Meet George Weeks.

A cautionary tale of the world that might have been.

©2020 Debbie Manber Kupfer (P)2020 Debbie Manber Kupfer

Shades of Black

This is an awesome short story. Engaging and thoroughly enjoyable.
I only wish it was longer.
I will be looking for more from this author.
I received a free copy of this audio book at my own request and voluntarily left this honest review..

Good story & narration, poor audio quality

This is the ninth book I have read/listened to by this author and I would listen to another. This was a different book as most of the others have been in the P.A.W.S. universe. It is short but poignant. It is unfortunate we truly have people in this world with George Week’s attitude. ——-

This is the first book I have listened to by this narrator ( Paul Winter ) and I would listen to another, however, the audio quality is very poor. It sounds like he’s in a tin can and lots of white noise competing for the narration volume. This is unfortunate because his narration style is quite good. I enjoyed his character voices and cadence. ——-

There are no explicit sex scenes, excessive violence, there is the occasional swearing. ——-

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.

Story 4/5
Narration 3/5

"You've got to keep your promises ...

...when they're lucrative, that is."

This is a very short story of how the greed of one man could destroy the world. Poignant, too, because I remember the great London smogs which initiated the Clean Air Act. Some days it was, literally, impossible to see something two feet ahead: scary and dangerous in several respects.

Narration by Paul Winger was very good, well paced and modulated. Unfortunately, the acoustic quality was not good, having that same empty feeling of a small bathroom. Some padding on the narration booth mi ghost t help.

My thanks to the rights holder of Shades of Black, who, at my request freely gifted me with a complimentary copy. I like the title, the name of the man whose capitalistic promotion of his company above the welfare and lives of the population being Black, just as the residue of the smog left black sooty stains everywhere. Very short but a welcome word of warning in our present climate.

Historical fiction reimagined

Audiobook. Book 4 stars, Narration 4 stars.

Thank you to the author for a copy of this audiobook for review.

I'm not always a fan of short stories, usually the longer the better for me (Gone With the Wind or War and Peace).

This story was pared down and succinct. It takes a historical event and reimagines it in a unique way. It had a good ending.

I would be interested in reading more of Debbie Manber Kupfer's work.

Short, but great

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of short stories, but this one was great. The author manages to create a whole word, societies, history, all in very few words and the twist in the story was very satisfying.