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    A Dangerous Place: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
    A Dangerous Place: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
    A Dangerous Place: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
    Ebook361 pages6 hours

    A Dangerous Place: A Maisie Dobbs Novel

    By Jacqueline Winspear

    3.5/5

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    Four years after she set sail from England, leaving everything she most loved behind, Maisie Dobbs at last returns, only to find herself in a dangerous place . . .  

    In Jacqueline Winspear‘s  powerful story of political intrigue and personal tragedy, a brutal murder in the British garrison town of Gibraltar leads Maisie into a web of lies, deceit, and peril.

    Spring 1937. In the four years since she left England, Maisie Dobbs has experienced love, contentment, stability—and the deepest tragedy a woman can endure. Now, all she wants is the peace she believes she might find by returning to India. But her sojourn in the hills of Darjeeling is cut short when her stepmother summons her home to England; her aging father Frankie Dobbs is not getting any younger.

    But on a ship bound for England, Maisie realizes she isn’t ready to return. Against the wishes of the captain who warns her, “You will be alone in a most dangerous place,” she disembarks in Gibraltar. Though she is on her own, Maisie is far from alone: the British garrison town is teeming with refugees fleeing a brutal civil war across the border in Spain.

    Yet the danger is very real. Days after Maisie’s arrival, a photographer and member of Gibraltar’s Sephardic Jewish community, Sebastian Babayoff, is murdered, and Maisie becomes entangled in the case, drawing the attention of the British Secret Service. Under the suspicious eye of a British agent, Maisie is pulled deeper into political intrigue on “the Rock”—arguably Britain’s most important strategic territory—and renews an uneasy acquaintance in the process. At a crossroads between her past and her future, Maisie must choose a direction, knowing that England is, for her, an equally dangerous place, but in quite a different way.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMar 17, 2015
    ISBN9780062220578
    Author

    Jacqueline Winspear

    Jacqueline Winspear is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Consequences of Fear, The American Agent, and To Die but Once, as well as thirteen other bestselling Maisie Dobbs novels and The Care and Management of Lies, a Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist. Jacqueline has also published two nonfiction books, What Would Maisie Do? and a memoir, This Time Next Year We’ll Be Laughing. Originally from the United Kingdom, she divides her time between California and the Pacific Northwest.

    Read more from Jacqueline Winspear

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    Reviews for A Dangerous Place

    3.5/5

    353 ratings46 reviews

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    • 3/5
      3.5 I was disappointed that the book opens to let us know that some very significant events in Maisie's life have been reduced to a few pages. I think there could have been another book or two to take place during those important years. This book just didn't keep my interest as well as the previous volumes in the series. I even thought Maisie was too predictable and a little boring. I have loved the series, and hope the next book is better.
    • 5/5
      At the end of the last novel, Maisie had decided to expand her horizons with hopes of finding herself and deciding to accept or not accept James' marriage proposal.

      Well, as the date of James' ultimatum approaches, Maisie sends him her response...and I can't really share any more details without spoiling the book.

      READ IT IF YOU LOVE MAISIE.
    • 4/5
      I have followed the Masie Dobbs series from book 1. I thoroughly enjoy this series. The progression of Masie's life and the lives of the ongoing characters are enjoyable to watch. As a stand alone book I am not certain how a first time reader would judge it. The story line is a good one - but may not inspire one to begin with book 1 and move up to this one.
    • 4/5
      2015, Harper Collins, Read by Orlagh CassidyPublisher’s Summary: adapated from Audible.comSpring 1937. Maisie’s been gone from England four years and has endured the deepest tragedy a woman can endure. Now all she wants is the peace she believes she might find by returning to India. But her aging father, Frankie Dobbs, is not getting any younger, and her stepmother has summoned her home. But on a ship bound for England, Maisie realizes she isn't ready to return. Against the wishes of the captain, who warns her, "You will be alone in a most dangerous place," she disembarks in Gibraltar: a British garrison town teeming with refugees fleeing a brutal civil war across the border in Spain.Days after Maisie's arrival, Sebastian Babayoff, a photographer and member of Gibraltar's Jewish community, is murdered. Maisie becomes entangled in the case, drawing the attention of the British Secret Service. Maisie is pulled deeper into political intrigue on "the Rock" – arguably Britain's most important strategic territory. At a crossroads between her past and her future, Maisie must choose a direction, knowing that England is, for her, an equally dangerous place but in quite a different way.My Review: As A Dangerous Place opened, I wanted only to know whether Maisie, after six months of international travel, had finally accepted James Compton – this is the arrangement they’d made at the close of Leaving Everything Most Loved. I was not prepared to learn of the devastating tragedy she had experienced around their union. Just heartbreaking! Winspear delivers yet another strong mystery story here, too, and Maisie works tirelessly, always patient in fitting together each piece of the puzzle. Admittedly, international political intrigue is not my forte, and I occasionally struggled to keep alliances and characters straight. But no matter, my primary interest in A Dangerous Place was in Maisie’s personal recovery – how would she move forward? when would she return to England, and how would she manage? would she return full-time to her work as psychologist and investigator?Well done, Jacqueline Winspear and Orlagh Cassidy. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Maisie's life takes a new turn and the book gets an extra point as the story continues interesting in spite of all the literary defects.
    • 4/5
      Murder mystery set in pre WWII Gibraltar, with good characterisation and enough 'local colour' to keep up the interest.
    • 4/5
      At the opening of this book, Maisie Dobbs has arrived in Gibraltar, in theory on her way home to England. In reality, she has realized she is not yet ready to face her homeland.

      It takes us a bit to learn fully what tragic events have set Maisie adrift.

      But as that background unfolds, Maisie is embarking, unintended, on a new investigation--the strange murder of a young photographer. The police immediately conclude that he was killed by a refugee from war-torn Spain, motivated by robbery. They attribute the photographer's camera being left behind to the coincidental arrival of Maisie on a walk.

      Gibraltar in 1937 isn't a safe place to be, but the danger is mostly potential. England still hopes that Europe isn't on the brink of war. The civil war is Spain is alarming, no doubt, but British authorities hope to profit from trade with the Nationalists, i.e., Franco's Fascists, backed by Hitler's Germany. British, German, and Italian ships are all patrolling the nearby waters, but the Rock isn't about to be attacked, at least not yet.

      Maisie, working through her grief, gets caught up in finding the truth of young Sebastian Babayoff's death, as much a distraction from her own grief as for the problem itself. She has no client in this case, after all. Yet she can't let it go. And as she investigates, she gets to know Senor Salazaar, a local cafe owner, Mrs. Bishop, the owner of the quiet guesthouse, she's staying in, Sebastian's sister Miriam, and Jacob Solomon, owner of a haberdasher shop who had given Sebastian studio space.

      She also attracts the attention of the British intelligence services.

      Once again, Maisie's growth is a bigger component here than the mystery of Sebastian Babayoff's death. And Maisie starts to wonder after a time how much her involvement in that investigation is her own doing, and how much she's being led by British intelligence, for other people's reasons. It's an engrossing and moving novel, but not necessarily a great mystery story.

      Recommended.

      I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      Since the last book, Maisie married James, moved to Canada, and became pregnant. James was killed in an airplane test crash and she subsequently lost the baby in shock. After spending and extended time in India, this story picks up in Gibralter, where Maisie has interrupted her voyage back to England from India to further brace herself for returning to face her losses head on.Spain is in the midst of civil war and Gibralter is filled with refugees. While out walking in the evening, Maisie discovers the body of a local photographer whom the police conclude was murdered by one of the refugees. This rapid conclusion doesn't sit well with Maisie and she embarks on an investigation of her own. Immersing herself back in her old line of work helps her to deal with the pains of grief.There is surveillance from Scotland yard, incursions into a war zone to provide medical services, and a variety of twists and turns typical to a Maisie Dobbs story. Although the tone was more somber than the most recent books, I still enjoyed this story very much and look forward to the next Maisie Dobbs adventure.
    • 4/5
      At the end of the last book in the Maisie Dobbs series, Maisie hadn't decided whether or not to accept James Compton's proposal. Several years have elapsed since the conclusion of that book. Maisie did marry James and moved with him to Canada, where he worked in the aeronautics industry. James was killed during a test flight, and Maisie's shock and grief caused her to lose the child she was carrying. Maisie has been unable to face returning to England and the home she had shared with James. Maisie has reached Gibraltar, and her discovery of a dead photographer shortly after her arrival gives her a puzzle to occupy her mind. Maisie's case map soon has threads leading to the Spanish Civil War, local communists, and intelligence agents (both British and foreign).I had hoped Maisie had left the world of espionage behind in A Lesson in Secrets, but it wasn't to be. I don't think the style of this series is particularly well suited to espionage plots. Even Maisie admitted to another character toward the end of the book that the explanation for the murder had become convoluted. She tried out several explanations of the death in conversations with several different characters, and each successive explanation served more to obfuscate than clarify the circumstances of the murder. The tension peaked too early, and Maisie's foray into war-torn Spain is unnecessary to the plot (although it is within character for Maisie to put her wartime nursing experience to use when she sees a great need for it.) I don't think this book would work as well as a stand-alone as some of the other books in the series. The series shifted from a post-war First World War focus to a build-up to World War II focus with A Lesson in Secrets, and I would recommend that readers new to the series go back at least that far to catch up before reading this installment.
    • 3/5
      Winspear has completely rebooted Maisie Dobbs and it'll be interesting to see what happens to her. The mystery in this book wasn't very good and it got boring reading about Maisie being followed by different men but I'll still keep reading the series.
    • 3/5
      Maisie is not in London, or England, in this latest story. It's nigh-on impossible to comment on this plot without spoiling, so let me just say:
      This was well-done, yet different from the earlier Maisier Dobbs stories.
    • 4/5
      This, number eleven in the Maisie Dobbs series, has Maisie working undercover for British Intelligence in Gibraltar, on the eve of the Second World WarIt’s pretty obvious—since I’m on #11—that I really like this series, but it long ago became less about the mystery and more about Maisie and the people in her life. Sometimes she’s maddening, but I am still entranced.4 stars
    • 4/5
      After the last few novels and Masie having to make choices about her future and the author pulls the rug out from under her in the first 10 or so pages, I found it somewhat jarring and discomfiting.Maisie goes from Canada to India and sails back (via the Suez canal) to England but when the boat stops in Gibraltar she decides to stop off and stay ther for a while, feeling a huge pressure to deal with the past and present. And then she falls over (quite literally) a body. She is sure that the dead man is not as he seems and with the Spanish Civil War next door she gets involved in complex politics of the era and human drama as it plays out.The beginning gave me some reading whiplash, but overall it was an interesting read. Maisie learns more about herself and how she wants to live her life.
    • 2/5
      Gibraltar is a stopping-off place for Maisie on her way home to England, and in some ways, this book feels like a stopping-off place - a stepping stone if you like - between the last book in the series and the next. The background of Gibraltar and particularly the Spanish Civil War (+ the Guernica episode) are well described, and as several reviewers have commented, fill in some gaps in our general awareness of this period. I the final analysis though, I found that I didn't really care that much about what happened to the characters(!), and felt that things would be much improved if Maisie was back in the UK with some of the familiar characters around her.
    • 4/5
      I was initially alarmed to discover, at the beginning of this book (so no spoiler alert) that Maisie had finally married James and was pregnant with their baby when James suddenly died piloting a plane. As a result, Maisie miscarried the baby. Holy smoke! How much can one character be expected to bear? But then I considered: how could she go on investigating crimes as a new mother married to a wealthy aristocrat who is somewhat in the public eye? Obviously, she could not, so the husband and child had to go. But what a shock! I sure hope Winspear has a happy ending planned for Maisie somewhere in the future. This episode started off a little slowly but built into a good story. I liked reading about Gibraltar, a place I had never thought about before, and the Spanish Civil War provided a suspenseful background for the action, such as it was. And I look forward to her next adventure in Munich.
    • 4/5
      Less mystery than usual but a better back story.
    • 5/5
      Maisie Dobbs has suffered tremendous loss, most recently the death of her husband and unborn child, and is now trying to come back to life in Gilbralter amidst the Spanish civil war. The mystery is secondary to the setting and Maisie's recovery
    • 2/5
      Very disappointing book from such an interesting series. Little action occurs, besides Maisie going from one location to another and back and forth as she tries to connect information about a murder, while recovering from painful events. Too many irrelevant details and redundant dialogues.
    • 2/5
      Maisie Dobbs finds herself in Gibraltar, licking her wounds after recent tragedy. Literally stumbling over a dead body, she suspects the police explanation of the murder is lacking. Not specifically hired by anyone and thus not an 'official' case, Maisie still feels the circumstances require her intervention. Her investigation takes her into Spain at the height of hostilities in that benighted Civil War -- most definitely a 'dangerous place.' However, the title may also refer to Maisie's inner turmoil as she deals with her personal demons. Readers familiar with the first ten books of this series know Maisie has much practice in dealing with inner demons. Now, for a rant and why I doubt I'll read any further in this series (WARNING Spoliers abound!): Writers of series such of this have a certain compact of fidelity with their readers. Loyal followers have invested time, expense and emotion in the story and characters. In the lead up to this latest installment, we have suffered mightily with Miss Dobbs. We have watched the ever kind, handsome and patient James plight his troth over several books. When last we left Maisie, she has finally promised a 'yes' or 'no' answer to his proposal. So, what happens? Within the space of a few short pages related in cursory fashion, we are propelled forward four years, only to learn of their blissful wedding, happy marriage and blessed hopes as expected parents. Husband and child are summarily killed by plane and miscarriage. By page 18 or so we are washed upon the shores of Gibraltar. What? We don't get to experience the answer to the proposal? The wedding? Some of their happiness? The answer to several books gone by of how she'll handle her work and marriage? Talk about a betrayal of those who have stuck around this long! And now we get more inner angst and navel gazing? Talk about pulling the rug out! I understand killing off major characters. Had we been there for the promised pay off, perhaps we could join more fully in her incredible grief. On top of which, Maisie has become hideously self indulgent, selfish and petulant. She escapes off the grid, avoiding all contact with her elderly infirm father, whom she hasn't seen since her marriage -- and is clearly worried about her. She refuses to go to England, thus denying her dead husband's parents the chance to even hold a Memorial service as they await her return. They can't have the service without the daughter-in-law widow. And Maisie knows they can't but still doesn't go back. Who does this? And it gets fixed by blithe little letters with no return address assuming their understanding? I am thoroughly tired of Miss Dobbs and I suspect Ms. Winspear must be as well to have had such an abrupt off-screen deus ex machina veering of plot. I give this two stars -- one for the author writing it and one for me for reading it.
    • 3/5
      I'm coming late to the Maisie Dobbs library expecting a mysterious whodunnit. But this is different. And the back story would help. Not that Winspear doesn't do a good job of bringing first readers up to date. She does. But the personal story of Maisie is such a big part of this book, that starting in the beginning would obviously be a different experience than dipping here so late in her journey.The book is mostly about Maisie, rather than the detective work she does. Indeed, the mystery is rather a hook on which to hang musings about Maisie's struggles, and her continuing life adventures.
    • 4/5
      Seeking solace from the death of her husband and infant daughter, Maisie travels to India. On her way home, she tarries in Gibraltar, where she literally stumbles over a murder victim. As no own else seems to care, she pursues her own investigation. The Spanish Civil War and Guernica provide ugly contexts for her quest but she does prevail.
    • 3/5
      Not one of my favorites in the Maisie Dobbs series.
    • 4/5
      A Dangerous Place is the 11th book in the series, and we pick up the story in 1937, four years after the last book ended. Maisie and her husband James are living in Canada, where James is working on planes for the government.After a tragedy, Maisie decides to return to India to heal. When her stepmother wires Maisie asking her to return home to England, Maisie decides to go, but ends up in Gibraltar, a British garrison town off the coast of Spain.Maisie discovers the dead body of a photographer, a Sephardic Jew, and feeling that the police aren't interested in finding the killer, Maisie uses her skills to solve the murder, and gets involved in a dangerous political situation.Winspear always does a great deal of research for her books, and in this one, we learn a great deal about the Spanish Civil War, including the bombing of a marketplace in Guernica, where many women and children were killed by fascist forces. For someone who doesn't know much about the politics in Spain at this time, it is enlightening.Since Maisie is alone in Gibraltar, we don't see many of our favorite characters from previous books- no Billy, no Priscilla, no Lady Rowan. I have to admit I miss Maisie's interactions with the characters I have grown to like. The only one who makes an appearance is Inspector MacFarlane, Maisie's sometimes nemesis, sometimes reluctant police partner.At the end of the story, Maisie assists some nurses who are traveling to care for the men fighting the civil war. This part was most interesting for me, as Maisie seemed to come out of her funk, and was at her best organizing the makeshift hospital and helping the nurses care for the men under difficult conditions. It was a welcome callback to Maisie and her nursing days in France.We'll have to wait until next year's book to find out if Maisie returns home and resumes her life as a private investigator. I can't say that this one was my favorite in the Maisie Dobbs series, but as always, I learned something about a time and place I knew little about, and that is always a good thing.
    • 2/5
      If this had been the first Maisie Dobbs book I've read, I would have rated it three stars for being a somewhat overwrought spy thriller. But since I have been a devoted Maisie devotee for 1 books, and since I waited almost three years for the next installment, all I can say is shame on you Jacqueline Winspear! Plenty of spoilers to come as I elaborate on why I hated this book.Winspear opends this book in 1937, three years after ending Leaving Everything Most Loved and then proceeds to sum up what has happened with Maisie (sou searching in India, marrying James, moving to Canada and finally being happy, becoming pregnant and then losing James in a plane crash and her unborn child as a result of that crash) in 18(!!) pages all related in epistolary fashion through letters, telegrams and newspaper articles. I should have just tossed the book aside at this point, but no, I plowed on.Maisie then has to go on some kind of grief pilgrimage, cutting off contact with everyone she knows, finally ending up, once again, in india. Maisie has always had an unfortunate habit of naval gazing, but in this book she takes it to the point or narcissism. Finally, a letter from her step-mother, Brenda, reminding her that Frankie, her much beloved father, isn't getting any younger, prods Maisie to book passage back to England.But wait! The closer she gets to home, the more she's all a-twitter that she just cannot possibly face it, so she jumps ship at Gibralter. There, she literally stumbles over a dead body (there is always one of those, isn't there?) and even though the police tell her that the man has been killed by a refugee (one of many apparently) from the Spanish Civil War, Maisie decides that she must discover THE TRUTH, and in the manner of the best Nosy Parkers, starts to stick her nose in things that certainly are none of her business.There are pages of ruminations about her old mentor Maurice - ruminations that have all been said in previous books - and for someone who is supposed to be intelligent, Maisie shows a singular lack of knowledge of what was going on in Spain. Perhaps in her self absorption she has neglected to ever read a newspaper?There are new characters galore, most of whom I didn't care about. Robbie McFarland makes an appearance and if he is really with Special Branch, why doesn't he just arrest her & put her on the next boat home? She is in a British territory after all? But no, he just lets her take a joy ride into Spain where, of course, she meets another sainted nun who is thinking of nothing but helping the poor war torn Spaniards. The end of the book finds her sending messages back to England and going back to Spain to work with the nun. Enough! At first I thought that Winspear, tired of her character was just fulfilling a book contract, but now I think that she's taking Maisie out of the realm of mystery stories and into the land of spy thrillers just in time for World War II. If that is so, may I suggest that she has her character bone up on world politics and start thinking about someone other than herself because I cannot take another mes of a book like this one.
    • 4/5
      Very good novel. So like the character and pleased she is appearing in new books. After the last book thought it was the end of the series.
    • 3/5
      I have read all of the previous books in this series and this one was a downer. After all of the build up in previous books Maisie's life is destroyed in a few pages. If anyone deserved a little bit of happiness it was Maisie but it was not to be. Winspear's ruthless handling of certain character's fates has been a nit picking point for me in the past but this across the boarding sweeping of plot and characters was disappointing. I might have been able to forgive her if the mystery had been the least bit stimulating but I found it dreadfully boring. Part of the plot revolved around the Spanish Civil War which I had never heard of while previous books focused on the more familiar World War I setting. Consequently plot points in this novel were not as interesting to me as in previous books. I really had to drag myself through this depressing book. It is clear that this book marks a pivotal change in the series so I will hang on for another installment to see if things pick up. Hopefully Maisie will return to England for happier times with beloved characters.
    • 5/5
      The only book that I have ever read that book place on Gibralter, this book has stayed with me for that reason. Kudos to Winspear for coming up with a completely new version of a locked room mystery. World War II is drawing near, and Maisie is in a deep depression after major upheavals in her life. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
    • 4/5
      Maisie Dobbs returns in her 11th novel, and may they continue. She’s been married, had both her husband and unborn baby die. Distraught she looks for peace in India. On her return to England, she stops off in Gilbralter, where she stumbles upon a dead man. Searching for his killer helps bring her out of her depression. This story is as much of a history lesson as a mystery. She finds herself immersed in the Spanish Civil War. The story ends with her staying on to help as a nurse in a small Spanish village and I can hardly wait to see where she goes in the next book. Or will she solve mysteries in Spain.
    • 3/5
      I have greatly missed Maisie Dobbs, and this novel skipped a chunk of her life, but then filled in snippets here and there. The story begins tragically for Maisie, and her grief and sorrow follow the whole story. Winspear does an excellent job incorporating the pain and sorrow into the thread of the story. Maisie embarks from India to England, but leaves the ship in Gibraltar for personal reasons only to discover the body of a murdered man. The story follows the raging war with different factions in Spain, and the intrusion of Italy and Germany into the moray. This battle brings back painful memories for Maisie as she must learn to follow the teaching of her mentor, Maurice. Winspear builds elaborate settings, but her characters lack of depth of personality.
    • 4/5
      A Dangerous Place is the latest (#11) entry in Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series.The opening first pages of A Dangerous Place were quite jarring - a great tragedy has befallen Maisie. I won't spoil it for you, but this loss devastates her. (And truly this reader as well - I'm saddened at this turn of events.) So much so, that she has no desire to return to England - instead she only gets as far as Gibraltar. It's 1937 and the Spanish Civil War is underway.I've always enjoyed the slow building and piecing together of clues on the road to the final reveal in Winspear's novels. The path is never a straight line from A to B which is of course what makes a great mystery. In A Dangerous Place the route to the end is quite roundabout and busy - a bit too much in my opinion. Winspear has grown the series - and Maisie - with new directions taken in the past few books.There is of course a dead body in A Dangerous Place (every mystery needs one!) But, the ensuing investigation is a political cat and mouse game with watchers watching the watched. And sadly, I became tired of it. What I really enjoyed was what I have enjoyed in previous Maisie books - the slow coming to answers with interviews, visits and Maisie's case map. This is still present in A Dangerous Place. But what I didn't like was the political cat and mouse games and the duplicity of almost every character. It was, well, just too much. This may just be my bias - I am not a 'spy novel' fan.Winspear's descriptions of time and place are excellent. Maisie walks the streets of Gibraltar many times - I could vividly picture the old women mending their nets, Mr. Solomon's haberdashery and Mr. Salazar's cafe, as she visits these locations many times. (And it's always fun to see a mention of a place in Canada that I'm familiar with - however brief!)It's always interesting to see why or when a title was chosen for a book. This one has a great quote from Albert Einstein in the epigraph....."The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." And this completely defines Maisie - she is one of the people who 'do'. This quality is one of the main reasons I have come to enjoy this character so much - her determination, her intellect, her compassion, her curiosity and her inability to let injustice go unnoticed."...he taught me about duty, about doing all in our power to bring a sense of...a sense of rest and calm to those left behind. I was - I am, I suppose - an advocate for the dead."I found the ending quite satisfying - it was a 'return to roots' for Maisie. I will be very curious to see where Winspear takes her character from here. I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series - this is a character and author that I do quite like. A Dangerous Place is a good read but isn't my favourite in the series. Readers new to this author will want to start at the beginning to fully come to appreciate this character.

    Book preview

    A Dangerous Place - Jacqueline Winspear

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